Harry Potter was very, very good to Hollywood this past weekend.
Will Hollywood finally be very, very good to Harry Potter at the Oscars?
"Hopefully, it will be given the attention it deserves," Warner Bros. exec Dan Fellman told us Sunday.
The first seven Potter films combined to earn nine nominations and zero wins. More than that, not one of the movies was seriously in contention for Best Picture.
But if the history-making opening weekend of the franchise's finale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, isn't enough of a game-changer, then the film's critical reception may be.
Said Fellman: "The reviews are sensational."
True enough, HP8 has a 97 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest of any of the series' films, and higher than any of last year's Best Picture nominees, save Toy Story 3.
On the downside, the last film to burst out of the gate (nearly) as big and acclaimed as Deathly Hallows Part 2 was The Dark Knight, which, of course, did not get nominated for Best Picture.
On the upside, Harry Potter is no Batman.
For one thing, post-Dark Knight, the Best Picture field was expanded to include 10 nominees (though since revised to include as many as 10 nominees).
For another thing, the ailing Hollywood of today owes the boy wizard more than the booming Hollywood of 2008 owed the Caped Crusader.
And then there's this: Per a tweet Sunday from Entertainment Weekly's Dave Karger, Academy members have seen Deathly Hallows Part 2, "and loved it."
So, yes, it's plausible, if not possible: Potter has one more trick up his sleeve.