This morning’s Oscar nominations saw “Elvis,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Top Gun: Maverick” all getting Best Picture nominations. That’s four box-office successes. Maybe this’ll boost the lagging ratings.
This morning, Steven Spielberg, whose ‘Fabelmans’ tanked commercially, reflected on the expanded Best Picture category and how almost half the lineup are films that mainstream America might have actually heard about.
“I’m really encouraged by that,” Spielberg told Deadline. “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.”
Back in 2013, Spielberg had praised “The Dark Knight” trilogy as “very successful well told stories, but also beautiful visual art films.”
If there was one comic book movie that actually deserved a Best Picture nomination then it was probably Nolan’s “The Dark Knight,” which was, and still is, an absolute pop culture landmark.
Maybe, if the lineup were expanded to ten at the time, Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2” might have also gotten a BP nomination in 2004. These are the two modern-day comic book movies I always go back to when I try to give an example of the ideal 21st Century superhero movie.