The Academy reschedules Oscars 2022; announce key events leading up the 94th Award ceremony

By Vandana Srivastawa

on May 28, 2021 05:51:18 PM

The 94^th Oscars ceremony has changed its date from Sunday, February 27, 2022, to Sunday, March 27, 2022. However, the eligibility cutoff for films hoping to qualify for the ceremony has been set for December 31 (the end of the calendar year, per longtime tradition). The eligibility period will run from March 1 through December 31, 2021. Following this year, the Academy intends to expand the qualifying requirements for the 95th Awards.

The return to the standard December 31 deadline for a film to qualify was expected but there had been speculation that the Oscars ceremony would move forward and not backward, in order to avoid Super Bowl LVI, which is scheduled to be held in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 13, and the Winter Olympics, which will take place in Beijing between Friday, February 4 and Sunday, February 20.

Mark your calendars!

For more information and other key #Oscars dates, click here: https://t.co/YjuCnEQJwP pic.twitter.com/Zech7c3B9N

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) May 27, 2021

However, as per media reports, this would have left very little time for the general public or Academy members with enough time to see the nominated films before voting, or the producers to put up a show that reflects the nominees, since the announcement of nominees will only come on Feb. 8. The 94^th Academy Awards will still be impacted by the pandemic and hence the organization is taking utmost care to get more viewers involved as well as one of the key amended eligibility requirement that were put in place for the 93rs – allowing films to qualify without a theatrical release, as long as one had been announced before being derailed by the pandemic — will remain in place for the 94th.

New eligibility requirement will be announced by the Academy ahead of the 95^th. The Academy’s prestigious Governors Awards ceremony that presents the special awards- the honorary Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award — since 2009, will also be held this year. The awards will not take place in fall as is the custom but will be held on the evening of Saturday, January 15, 2022. Oscar nomination voting will run from Jan. 27 through Feb. 1, and final voting will run from March 17 through March 22.

(Source: The Academy Twitter/The Hollywood Reporter)