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The Academy of Arts and Sciences for Feature Films announced on Thursday that it plans to postpone the Academy Awards next year by one month to March 27, 2022. The show was originally scheduled to take place on February 27, 2022.
To qualify for the award, films must be released between March and December this year. This limits the authorization window for films to 10 months, as opposed to the usual 12 months of authorization.
It did so after the pandemic forced the academy to postpone its awards ceremony from February to April in 2021. The academy had also postponed the time slot for this year’s award ceremony to February 28. That decision made it possible for films such as “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” and “Judas and the Black Messiah” to be considered for this year’s awards.
The academy’s board of directors agreed on Wednesday an exception to be made for this year’s awards season in relation to film eligibility for the 2022 awards. With this decision, films that were supposed to be released in theaters but were cleared for on-demand viewing at home due to coronavirus-related theater closings can be recognized for an Oscar.
Under normal circumstances, the Academy requires that films be shown three times a day in a commercial theater in one of six eligible cities for at least seven consecutive days. One of the demonstrations must take place on each of these days between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. The cities are Los Angeles, New York, the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Miami, and Atlanta.
This exception also includes drive-in theaters, where the film must be shown at least once a day for seven consecutive days.
The film does not have to be available only to members of the Academy Screening Room according to the usual rules on the streaming site. However, it must meet all other admission requirements in the Academy’s regulations.
The nominations for next year’s show will be announced on February 8, 2022.
At this year’s Oscars, the main prize went to “Nomadland”. Director Chloe Zhao and lead actress Frances McDormand also took home trophies. But ratings for the show, which aired on ABC, fell to all-time lows. Delaying the show until the end of March will avoid other top viewers such as the Winter Olympics and the National Football League Super Bowl, both of which will take place in early to mid-February 2022.
