Does Reeves’ “The Batman” Have a Chance To Win an Oscar?

The most prestigious award ceremony in the film industry is taking place tonight in Los Angeles. Fans and bookmakers are vigorously speculating which movie and actors will win the notable Academy Award known as Oscar. Even though the past suggests that superhero movies usually don’t have representatives in major award shows, DCs newest exciting project, “The Batman,” did get some accolades. We already mentioned Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and their chances of getting an Oscar, but we can’t not mention Reeves’ The Batman and its nominations for the most prestigious awards in the film industry.

We will discuss Batman’s chances of winning the Academy Award, mention previous wins for the movie, and discuss what this means for DC and their cinematic universe’s future. If you are interested, stay with us until the end.

“The Batman” important wins and nominations before the Oscars

When we discussed the Black Panther 2 and their odds of winning an Academy Award, we did mention how the award season works. Five major film industry awards ultimately decide who will win the Academy Award. The five major awards include:

• Golden Globes Awards
• Critics’ Choice Movie Awards
• British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA)
• Producer Guild of America Awards (PGA)
• Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAGA)

Each of these awards presents a special guild, and academies mostly specialize in one category. In contrast “smaller” guilds, like Costume Designers, will most likely determine who will win the award in that specific category. 

Nevertheless, Marvel isn’t the only one who represents the “superhero” genre on tonight’s Academy Awards because DCs newest good project is also nominated. 

“The Batman” is a superhero movie released in 2022 and serves as a reboot of the Batman movie franchise. Matt Reeves directed and wrote the script for the movie with the help of Peter Craig. The acting cast consisted of Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, and more.

The new Batman movie gained a lot of success since its release and is hailed as “the savior” of the DC Extended Universe. Matt Reeves did an exceptional job with the characterization and the technical part of the movie, which gained him a lot of nominations and accolades for various film awards.

We mentioned that The Batman got nominated for various awards before the Oscars, so we will mention the results from major award events and a potential snub in one category. 

Honorable mention is the Saturn Awards, which the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films presents. The Batman won two Saturn Awards for Best Film Director and Best Film Costume; the latter featured heavily in other nominations.

As you can see from the table, academies and guilds focused on backstage work for The Batman, which was really good, but the film didn’t get any awards besides the nomination. Nevertheless, the movie is outstanding for the superhero genre, and Hollywood recognized the potential and quality of Matt Reeves and his Batman. With all being said, does The Batman have any chance of winning the Academy Award? Let’s find out.

Does “The Batman” have a chance to win?

This year Oscars are really close in both acting and technical categories. If we look at the odds of Batman getting an Oscar, we must first look into other nominations. The nominations and Batman’s competitors are:

As you can see from the table, The Batman has been nominated for three Academy Awards, all of which include technical categories. Regarding the odds of winning any of these Academy Awards, if we are to trust the bookmakers and the previous major awards ceremonies, I have to say that Matt Reeves and his Batman won’t take any Oscar home. Let’s speculate in more detail.

First, let’s mention a potential snub of the year in the Original Score category. Michael Giacchino was nominated for several awards for his music in Batman, which included the Grammys and Critics’ Choice Awards. Some people argued that Giacchino was supposed to be one of the contenders for the Academy Award, but we will never know. Nevertheless, the movie succeeded enough to be considered one of the best DC projects since Nolan’s Batman trilogy, which won two Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing and Best Supporting Actor for the late Heath Ledger.

Reeves’ Batman is nominated for Best Sound, but it doesn’t fair very well with other nominated movies. However, Top Gun: Maverick and All Quiet on the Western Front have much more chances of getting an Oscar. Top Gun won a Cinema Audio Society and Motion Picture Sound Editor awards, while All Quiet at the Western Front won a BAFTA. Unfortunately, for DC and Batman fans, this film doesn’t have a chance in the Best Sound category.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling is a category that regularly nominated The Batman throughout the award season. Still, once again, it seems that the likes of Elvis and The Whale will fight over the Oscar. Now, for a superhero movie, The Batman is great for this category, hence why is it nominated, but Elvis, being a biopic, and The Whale having to transform their main character severely (Brandon Fraser), takes the frontrunner seat in the race for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. The Batman wouldn’t be a bad pick for this category, but it would be a shock if it gets an Academy Award over Elvis and The Whale.

Finally, we have the Best Visual Effects category, and once again, it seems that Avatar: The Way of Water will absolutely crush its competition. The superhero representatives Black Panther 2 and Batman don’t stand a chance against Avatar, which absolutely dominates with its visuals to the point of being more interesting than its plot. Of course, it is a beautiful movie, and it did win almost every visual effect award this season, hence why Batman and other competitors in this category won’t stand a chance.

Ultimately, we could say that DCs representative Batman won’t win any Academy Award tonight, which isn’t a bad look at all. It is great to see that superhero movies are held in higher regard, and that directors and actors are doing their best to portray comic book characters in the best way they can.

A few years back, the legendary film director Martin Scorsese said that superhero movies “aren’t the real cinema,” and that really struck a chord with some of the directors in Hollywood. That statement kickstarted some great superhero movies, and the recognition of the Academy seems valid in the sea of other critically acclaimed movies.

Matt Reeves and his Batman probably won’t win anything tonight, but to be nominated among the great competition is enough. Some DC fans might dislike that Marvel’s Black Panther 2 has more chance of winning the Academy Award, and that is fine – the rivalry must stay alive.

Nolan’s Batman trilogy was special, and thankfully, it was recognized by Hollywood and proved that there could be a good superhero movie. Black Panther and the new reboot of Batman are on the right course, and hopefully, we will see more of them in the future.