Steven Spielberg, one of the greatest directors of all time, has been doing the rounds while talking about his new movie The Fabelmans, which just earned him a Best Director Oscar nomination. One of his latest opinions would’ve made a certain Gotham hero proud, though.
The director has always been a box office whisperer and, talking to Deadline, he said the greatest audiences success of the year, Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick deserve to be Best Picture Academy Award nominees. He then name-checked The Dark Knight and put it in the same box:
“It came late for the film that should have been nominated a number of years ago, Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight.’ That movie would have definitely garnered a Best Picture Nomination today, so having these two blockbusters solidly presented on the top 10 list is something we should all be celebrating.”
One of the greatest box office successes ever, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight told the story of the fight between Batman (Christian Bale) and the Joker (Heath Ledger) for the soul of Gotham. The movie earned $1 billion worldwide, becoming the first superhero movie to earn a billion at the box office, as well as the highest-grossing film of 2008, and the fourth-highest film of all time. No small feat, huh?
If that wasn’t enough, the film’s reception was also excellent as the film still has a 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes for both critics and audiences. Even then, The Dark Knight wasn’t nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award, but at least, Heath Ledger won a posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as the Joker.
The Dark Knight was directed by Christopher Nolan and starred Christian Bale (The Fighter), Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain), Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking), Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Stranger than Fiction), Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour), and Morgan Freeman (Seven).