Even as Hollywood announces plans to resume filming on major film productions and movie theaters across the country begin to open their doors following coronavirus shutdowns, The Academy is giving the industry a bit more time to get ready for the 2021 Oscars.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Monday that the 93rd annual Oscars has officially been postponed and is now set to take place on April 25, 2021 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. (The ceremony was originally scheduled for Feb. 28.)
As such, the eligibility window has also been extended beyond the traditional Dec. 31 deadline to Feb. 28, with nominations announced on March 15.
“For over a century, movies have played an important role in comforting, inspiring, and entertaining us during the darkest of times. They certainly have this year,” said Academy President David Rubin and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson.
“Our hope, in extending the eligibility period and our Awards date, is to provide the flexibility filmmakers need to finish and release their films without being penalized for something beyond anyone’s control,” their statement reads. “This coming Oscars and the opening of our new museum will mark an historic moment, gathering movie fans around the world to unite through cinema.
This is the fourth time in Oscars history that the ceremony has been postponed, following delays in 1938 (due to the LA flooding), 1968 (following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) and 1981 (after the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan).
Simultaneously, The Academy announced that the Sci-Tech Awards has been postponed “to a later date still to be determined” and the Governors Awards has been cancelled this year, as well as a new opening date for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (April 30).
This latest news comes following a number of significant changes made by the Academy this year. To accommodate modified release plans due to the ongoing pandemic, they announced that streaming films with a previously planned theatrical run would be eligible “for this awards year only.”
And after global protests against systemic racism and a call for greater diversity in all aspects of life, the Academy announced new “equity and inclusion” measures, including an expanded Best Picture category guaranteeing 10 films and more representation and inclusion standards ahead oft the 2022 Oscars.
