"The Dark Knight" Getting Re-Released

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"The Dark Knight" Getting Re-Released

Written by Anders Nelson

Sunday, 14 September 2008

Word came from the top this week that The Dark Knight, that old Warner Brothers cash cow, is going to be re-released this upcoming January. Not only did it apparently not make enough money, the Brothers W are also hoping that the pic will score some Oscar attention. That’s right: there is an official Oscar campaign underway for the latest Batman film. Doesn’t it feel good to be alive?

Now, I had my issues with the film, but Oscar nominations would certainly be a lovely validation for Knight, which clearly tried a lot harder than any major genre picture to come down the pipe in a good long while. Specifically, one can only imagine the standing ovation that Ledger would get if he became the first posthumous (acting) Oscar winner since Peter Finch for Network. But would the film joining the ranks of such illustrious masterpieces as Around the World in Eighty Days and Oliver really make the comic book world any better?

Frankly, wouldn’t it make it a whole lot worse?

If Dark Knight gets a best picture nomination, it’s going to cast a long nasty shadow over all comic book and superhero films for the next two decades, with all the Joe Schmo wannabe in the industry trying to imitate that film’s success with every comic book adaptation that comes out, from Aquaman to Cathy (think about how much more you’d be able to enjoy Pulp Fiction if there hadn’t been ten years worth of indie film rip-offs). Even worse, its going to make comics respectable, and that would really, really suck, because everyone’s going to want to come and join the party, and every last bit of comic book culture is going to become homogenized and mainstream. It’d be like the Walt Disney company taking over the local brothel.

I’ll probably stop short of it, but I really feel like starting a petition for the film to not win any awards, because it’s going to keep the Batman franchise where it belongs (in the hands of greasy, unshaven nerds who hardly ever get enough sunlight, let’s face it, like you and me).