Dark Knight's Oscar hopes revived by Producer's Guild

It’s been a breakneck few weeks in the awards cycle, and now that critics’ groups and review boards nationally have delivered their choices for the year’s best films, we’re left mostly to ponder the forthcoming finale. With Oscar ballots mailed and nominations only a few weeks away, self-anointed pundits have narrowed the coveted best-picture race to four films: Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon and Milk.

The fifth slot is the wildcard, and the possibilities are many: Doubt, The Reader, Revolutionary Road or perhaps The Dark Knight, which in recent months had collected buzz as a possible forerunner of a populist revolution in the awards. As the season wore on and Knight turned up less and less, those hopes seemed to fade, but the Producers Guild has revived them in giving its fifth best-picture nomination to the madly successful film.

Though there many, many best-picture lists in circulation, the Producer’s Guild’s shortlist is considered an especially accurate forecast of the eventual Oscar nominees (the L.A. Times puts the figure at 76%). And the timing could not be better for The Dark Knight as academy voters prepare their nomination ballots over the next week.

Ballots are due Jan. 12, the nominations are announced early on Jan. 22 and the show airs on Feb. 22 on ABC.

Related links:
News: In reversal, The Dark Knight's score up for Oscar
Ctrl-V: Oscar Buzz: Who's ahead in this year's key races?
Signs of Life 2008: Best Film

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