Steven Spielberg has asserted The Dark Knight should have been nominated for Best Picture.
While speaking to Deadline for an interview published this week, The Fablemans director reacted to 2023's Best Picture Oscar nominations.
Steven praised the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for including Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water in the 10-nominee category of Best Picture, noting the expansion of nominations from five to 10 from 2009 onwards.
"I'm really encouraged by that," the director commented of having 10 nominees in the Best Picture category.
He continued: "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."
The Dark Knight did not score a Best Picture nomination in its year, but did earn a Best Supporting Actor nomination - and win - for Heath Ledger's work as the Joker.
The movie has been widely acclaimed as a masterpiece of superhero filmmaking and is largely considered one of the greatest films of the 2000s. Its innovative approach, blending elements of crime film with comic-book characters, has made it a "blueprint" for modern superhero films.
The Dark Knight trilogy was completed in 2012 with a sequel, The Dark Knight Rises.
As well as Top Gun, Avatar and The Fablemans, the 2023 nominations for Best Picture at the Academy Awards included All Quiet on the Western Front, The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Tár, Triangle of Sadness and Women Talking.
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