Christopher Nolan Gives Perfect Response to ‘The Dark Knight’s Best Picture Snub at Oscars

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ failure to nominate The Dark Knight for Best Picture in 2009 may be one of the most notorious Academy Awards snubs in Oscar history. The Academy left Christopher Nolan‘s second Batman movie off the nominee list that included The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, and Slumdog Millionaire, which won in the end. Despite its exclusion from the Best Picture field, The Dark Knight did change the Oscars. Its snub encouraged the Academy to widen the field of Best Picture nominees, extending the category to include 10 nominees the next year. When asked about the snub, Nolan seemed amused by The Dark Knight‘s lasting legacy.

“Yeah, which is a kind of cool consolation prize, I guess,” Nolan remarked during a Q&A following an IMAX screening of The Dark Knight on March 30th in Los Angeles. IMAX brought Nolan’s entire The Dark Knight Trilogy back to theaters for a special screening in honor of Batman’s 80th anniversary.

The Dark Knight didn’t leave the 81st Academy Awards empty-handed. Heath Ledger received a posthumous Best Supporting Actor award for his role as the Joker. Richard King won the Oscar for Best Sound Editing for his work on the film.

The Dark Knight Trilogy IMAX screenings will continue in April. On April 13th, the trilogy will screen at AMC Lincoln Square in New York City and AMC Metreon in San Francisco. On April 20th, the films will screen at Cinesphere Ontario Place, Toronto, and at IMAX Theatre at the Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis. Each of these screenings will be accompanied by the footage of Nolan’s Los Angeles appearance.

Each of the screenings shows all three movies in the director’s preferred format, IMAX 70mm. With The Dark Knight, Nolan became the first filmmaker to shoot the action sequences of a major feature film with IMAX cameras. He used IMAX cameras more extensively in The Dark Knight Rises.

Jeff Goldstein, president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures, said in a statement “Christopher Nolan broke new ground with The Dark Knight Trilogy, and this is a rare chance for today’s audiences to experience these extraordinary films as they were meant to be seen. To have the added privilege of hearing Chris’s insights firsthand makes this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Do you think The Dark Knight should have been nominated for Best Picture? Let us know in the comments. The Dark Knight Trilogy is available now on home media.

(h/t The Hollywood Reporter)

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