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Oscar nominations were announced Wednesday, leaving many fanboys grumbling in its wake. After months of media hyping, after rave reviews from critics and fellow filmmakers alike, after a passionate grassroots campaign and an enthusiastic push from Warner Bros… The academy gave no serious consideration to The Dark Knight after all, despite its 8 (mostly technical) nominations. No Best Director, no Best Adapted Screenplay, and no Best Picture.

The Dark Knight has a Tomatometer rating of 94%, placing it above nominees Milk (93%), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (72%), Frost/Nixon (91%) and The Reader (60%). The favorite to win, Slumdog Millionaire, leads only by a small margin with 95%. With such critical acceptance, surely it deserves to at least be recognized by the academy? The Dark Knight also graced many Top Ten lists and even scored noms at DGA, WGA and PGA's respective awards. So where’s the Oscar love, y’all?

Even The Dark Knight’s rivals are among the many Hollywood insiders who found the snub unexpected. Both Milk producer Michael London and Benjamin Button producer Frank Marshall expressed genuine surprise that they wouldn’t be competing against Batman.

“The fact that The Dark Knight did so well at the box office was probably a good thing and maybe a not-so-good thing,” Marshall said to AP. “People tend to think films as successful as that are not well made, but certainly, Dark Knight is exceptionally well made.”

“People were surprised The Reader got the fifth slot instead of Dark Knight,” Michael London told the LA Times. “That seemed to be the biggest surprise. People are talking about it. I don’t know what it means. I love The Dark Knight. It was a fantastic movie, but I suppose it’s difficult for successful popcorn movies to get serious attention from the academy. It’s a knee-jerk thing where smaller movies are perceived as more artistic.”

There may be some truth to that, sure—but I don’t think such stigma applies this time. Not to the The Dark Knight, anyway, considering its near-universal acclaim. There’s no reason why voters would be hesitant to pick a movie hailed as a worthy nomination by not just the public, but critics as well.

Furthermore, there’s a considerable overlap of voters between the academy and the DGA, PGA and WGA—three union groups that nominated The Dark Knight. Why did those DGA members choose Chris Nolan as one of the year's best directors, yet forget him come Oscar time? The answer to that question is perhaps linked to another question: Why is it that Oscar contenders are always so middling, so predictably easy to lump together into a certain dramatic tone?

Believe it or not, it might be a simple case of mathematics...

Variety’s Timothy Gray wrote this boggling expose that tries to explain the academy’s ballot counting system in an oversimplification that already sounds like a headache. He’s right, this is just as—if not more—convoluted than the college electoral process.

For example, there are 375 voting members in the directors branch. The accountants take that 375 number and divide it by six — i.e., the number of eventual nominees (five) plus one. The division yields the number 62 — and then you add one, so that’s 63. (There’s a reason for adding these ones, but don’t worry about it.)

The accountants then take all 375 director ballots and go through only the first choices, putting each helmer-contender into his/her own stack. When a contender hits 63 first-place votes, he has enough for a nomination.

Anyone who voted for this director gets his ballot set aside, and none of the voter’s other choices is tallied. The reason is to make sure that every voice is heard.

It’s possible, but not likely, that when the first round of voting concludes, there are five contenders who got 63 votes. If not, the [team at counting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers] take the remaining ballots and go through people’s second choices, to see who gets enough votes in this round.

One caveat: A contender has to receive at least one first-place vote. The thinking is that if a person got zero first-place finishes, maybe he doesn’t deserve a nomination.

How many people understood this method? Did the voters even know about this? It would be logical to assume that all five of your choices are counted, but it would be a mistake.

What this means is that it’s entirely possible for all of the academy voters to have picked The Dark Knight as one of the five they believe deserve a nomination, but because not enough of them put the film as #1, those votes weren’t counted. The problem isn’t so much that the voters didn’t want the film—it’s that it lacked a significant number willing to say it was the best of the year. I’m not sure if that’s a consolation or if it stings even more—this idea that the film was considered the best five but missed the honor anyway. We'll never know for sure, however, unless someone takes the time to recount how many people voted for it. Don't hold your breath on that one.

On the other hand, how did a dull and divisive film like The Reader make it? Simple. All that’s required was to have 1/6 of the voters place it at the top of the pile, which is not outside the Weinstein Company’ lobby reach. It is a Holocaust film, after all, and the air of importance is a necessity for any Oscar contender.

This is undoubtedly disappointing for the fans who have tried so hard to campaign for the film—most notably the website DarkCampaign.com—but perhaps this letter from a certain screenwriter, sent to the site on Friday, can help ease the pain.

hey — not sure who to address this to as it looks like a collective effort, but I just wanted to pass along my thanks.

It’s truly humbling that you guys would take the time and effort to try to get the film recognized. I, like you, was disappointed that Chris didn’t get some recognition this morning, but for Heath and so many of the people who worked so hard on this thing to get nominated is thrilling.

Any nominations for a comic book movie is a thing of beauty no matter how you slice it, and that takes the sting out a bit.  Besides, I’ve been to the big show before, and, like any of these things, it’s a little disappointing. Did you know it’s not even an open bar once the show starts? At least this time I would have remembered to bring a little cash so I could buy myself a drink after losing.

The best part of this experience is seeing other people getting passionate about the film the way that we did. It has been a truly incredible experience. So thank you again.

best,

jonah nolan

At the end of the day, eight nominations is not too shabby, considering how Batman Begins only received one for Best Cinematography, a feat Wally Pfister is repeating again this year for his work on The Dark Knight.