Even the Oscars Are Delayed By Coronavirus Now
The show will go on for the Academy Awards. It’ll just go on a lot later than anticipated.
In response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the releases of movies around the world, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that they had pushed back the 92nd Academy Awards. Originally scheduled for February 28, 2021, the show will now take place on April 25, 2021. In addition, movies released through the end of February will be eligible for awards consideration, and nominations will be announced on March 15. In typical years, a movie must be released theatrically between January 1 and December 31 in order to be considered for that edition of the Oscars. This year’s Academy Awards will technically cover 14 months of movies. (As noted by THR, that has happened before — but it is extremely rare.)
Essentially, the decision gives studios more leeway to wait out the coronavirus instead of forcing them put films out in the fall in order to be considered for the Oscars. Typically, September through December is the period where most awards contenders gets released; now the health of movie theaters (not to mention the health of moviegoers) during those months, and particularly the early part of the fall, seems in doubt. Distributors can now postpone high-profile “fall movies” to early 2021, in the hopes that the pandemic will be less severe by then.
Of course, there’s no guarantee the public health crisis will improve by then. And there’s no guarantee it’ll be better by April 2021 — when the Academy also announced they will finally open their first museum dedicated to movies.
Gallery — Terrible Movies That Won Oscars: