It’s baaack! Christopher Nolan’s $997 million dollar flick The Dark Knight has officially touched down in IMAX theatres around the globe - 143 domestic and 29 international - which is utterly ideal since it was partially shot by IMAX cameras in an effort to jolt you from all angles.

On the one-year anniversary of Heath Ledger’s death (January 22) it was announced that the deceased star had received an Oscar nod for his wickedly awesome portrayal of the Joker. For those of us who took pleasure in watching Ledger jump from zero to 60 in 10 seconds flat, the man himself found the performance even more enjoyable.  “[I]n Heath’s words, he had ‘the time of his life,’” his half sister Ashleigh Bell recently told People.

With nominations in eight different categories — Best Supporting Actor for Ledger, Art Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing, Makeup, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects — the only missing element is Best Picture.

Due to what some consider “excessive hype” and the fact that it is an action film, it was shunned from that particular category. Apparently TMZ was about as dumfounded as we, for the site got in contact with an Academy voter this weekend to obtain an opinion on the matter:

“The fact it and Chris Nolan weren’t nominated is a shame,” said voter responded. “And I plan on casting a write-in vote for it on the final ballot.” Taking one for the team!

To explain, back in the day it was customary to hold “write-in campaigns,” so that if a film you adored hadn’t received any nods you could request for the Academy to give it another chance. How sweet is that? Unfortunately, the procedure was snuffed out in 1936 after a write-in campaign proved successful, and an unnominated cinematographer (Half Mohr) managed to win.

Though hope for The Dark Knight snagging Best Picture is essentially fruitless, the above voter could help it collect a trophy from at least one of the aforementioned categories. And as Nolan’s brother and writing partner has emphasized, “Any nominations for a comic-book movie is a thing of beauty no matter how you slice it.”

The 81st Academy Awards hosted by Hugh Jackman airs February 22 on ABC. Keep those fingers crossed fellow fans!!

~Carolyn French~