"Batman wants an Oscar," reports the Hollywood Reporter. "To be precise, Warner Bros. wants a statuette — or 10 — for 'The Dark Knight.' So the studio plans to re-release its blockbuster Batman sequel in January, the height of Academy Awards voting season.

"It's just a matter of bringing it back as a reminder for people," according to the trade paper.

"The Dark Knight" will be re-released to Imax theaters at the peak of derby season —January — but it's unclear if the flick will be also be shown again on regular screens. So far "The Dark Knight" has grossed more than $55 million at Imax venues and $512 million domestically, making it the second-highest-grossing film ever, after "Titanic," which grossed $600 million ($1.24 billion worldwide in 1997 and 1998) and tied the record for most Oscars (11) set by "Ben-Hur" in 1959. The DVD of "The Dark Knight" will be released in December.

Chief among the 10 Oscar categories that Warner Bros. aims for is supporting actor for Heath Ledger, of course, but beware: Only one star has won an Oscar from the grave (Peter Finch, "Network"), and roles like the Joker are rarely even nominated.

Maybe this next Oscar factoid may help put things in clearer perspective. After the beloved Spencer Tracy died in 1967 after giving a dynamic, heartfelt performance in best picture nominee "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," he was widely expected to win best actor, but he lost to Rod Steiger ("In the Heat of the Night"). However, Tracy's de facto widow, Katharine Hepburn, won for lead actress for a rather tame turn with little screen time in "Dinner."

Bottom line: Oscar voters wanted to bestow a hug after losing Tracy, yes — but they just didn't want to hug the dead guy.

When Peter Finch passed away, the situation was very different from Tracy's and Ledger's. The latter stars died more than six months before the Oscarcast. Finch died of a heart attack just two weeks before the Golden Globes while he was actively campaigning to stop that juggernaut Robert De Niro ("Taxi Driver"), who'd swept the film critics' awards. Oscar and Globe voters were still stunned by Finch's loss when they inked their ballots, and they couldn't resist checking off his name.

Heath Ledger bears a striking similarity to James Dean. Both were heartthrob thespians whose promising careers were cut short by tragedy.  Dean had two posthumous Oscar nominations. The first — for "East of Eden" — came nearly half a year after Dean died in a car wreck. The next year he was nommed for "Giant," and he lost both times. (NOTE: I originally wrote that "Giant" was Dean's first posthumous nomination. I have changed the post to read correctly.)

When Oscar nominations come out in January, Heath Ledger will have been dead a year. Given all of the Oscar hubbub he's generating now, I'm sure he'll be on that list of contenders, but can he really win?

Oscar voters aren't wild about campy villain roles in popcorn flicks like "Dark Knight." The only time one got nominated was Al Pacino as Big Boy Caprice in "Dick Tracy" (1990). Jack Nicholson's widely celebrated Joker in "Batman" (1989) — the same role now played by Heath Ledger — was nominated for a Golden Globe but not an Oscar, which is odd considering how nuts academy members are for Jack. (Nicholson holds the records for most nominations and wins among male actors.)

And Oscar voters don't usually like villainous roles unless the actor rides to victory atop a best-picture sweep, like Anthony Hopkins in "The Silence of the Lambs."

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