Christopher Nolan’s comic masterpiece makes a clean sweep of the 35th annual People’s Choice Awards and picks up another major nomination along the way.
Viewers who tuned into CBS’ broadcast of the 35th annual People’s Choice Awards watched the caped crusader walk away clean with five trophies for its five nominations in what has become the norm for film ceremonies as of late. Warner Bros’ “The Dark Knight” took home awards for favorite film, ensemble, superhero, action movie and on-screen match-up for Christian Bale and the tragically departed Heath Ledger, for their respective performances as Batman and The Joker. Upon receiving the award, Bale thanked the fans for their support and paid respect to his co-star saying, “Here’s to Heath.”
This isn’t the first awards ceremony of the season in which the Batman has managed to clean out the joint with its nominations as its been making short work of critics awards with over 15 sweeps in areas such as San Francisco, Austin and Toronto. Newsarama reports today that Christopher Nolan has received a Directors Guild of America nomination, adding more fuel to its Oscar fire.
While a best picture win for “The Dark Knight” sounded impossible only a few short months ago, its current string of accolades and a weakened pack has greatly improved its odds. With the potential front-runner “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” falling flat with critics and the Mickey Rourke vehicle “The Wrestler” being a one-man show, the best picture nod could come down to a three-way race between “The Dark Knight,” “Milk” starring Sean Penn and a dark horse competitor in the form of “Frost/Nixon” or possibly even “Wall-E.”
“The Dark Knight” has already done more than enough to prove that movies based on comic books are worth taking seriously, even without an Oscar win. Its most definitely facing an uphill battle and even if the world isn’t ready to accept a comic book film as the picture of the year, its nomination as one looks to be a certainty.
