Steven Spielberg Says This Beloved Film Should’ve Been First Modern Blockbuster To Be A Best Pic Nominee

director steven spielberg at a movie premiere

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In case the fact that 2022 produced three billion-dollar movies wasn’t proof enough, the diversity of this year’s Best Picture nominees should be: the movie business is, very much, BACK.

Regardless of what type of movie fan you consider yourself, there’s likely a Best Picture-nominated film that you enjoyed over the course of the last year, as the ten nominees are as diverse as we’ve seen in some time.

This year, the nominees for Best Picture are: The Fabelmans, Tar, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Banshees of Inisherin, Women Talking, Triangle of Sadness, Elvis, All Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Top Gun: Maverick. Those last two, in particular, stand out from the fact as they are undoubtedly popcorn/blockbuster movies, which are a rarity when it comes to Best Picture nominees.

Legendary director Steven Spielberg, however, not only believes that the recognition these blockbusters are receiving is deserved, but a long time coming, as he recently identified Christopher Nolan’s superhero epic The Dark Knight as a film that should’ve been nominated for Best Picture.

“I’m really encouraged by that,” Spielberg told Deadline when asked about Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick being nominated for Best Picture.

“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.” [via Deadline]

While The Dark Knight ultimately didn’t score a Best Pic nomination (Heath Ledger, of course, posthumously won for Best Supporting Actor), the film is widely credited with being the catalyst that caused The Academy to expand the Best Picture field from five films to ten the following year.

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