Academy Awards Delayed Until April 2021, Movies Released Up Until February 2021 Now Eligible for Nominations

Well, that didn’t take very long. This morning we ran a story revealing that the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would be meeting today to discuss potentially postponing the date of the 2021 Oscars ceremony. Now, it’s official: the 93rd Oscars ceremony will now be held on April 25, 2021. The awards ceremony was originally scheduled for February 28, 2021, but now films released up to and including that date will be able to qualify for nominations.

The coronavirus has delayed so many 2020 movies that many of us have been wondering just how the heck the next Oscars are going to unfold. There were even rumors that the awards might even skip 2020 entirely. Now we have a definitive answer: the 93rd Oscars will be held on April 25, 2021. This delay in the ceremony also allows a delay in the qualifications process:

The eligibility period for Academy Awards consideration has been extended beyond the standard December 31 deadline: a feature film must now have a qualifying release date between January 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021. The submission deadline for specialty categories (Animated Feature Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, International Feature Film, Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film) is December 1, 2020. The submission deadline for general entry categories, including Best Picture, Original Score and Original Song, is now January 15, 2021. Visit oscars.org/rules for the complete 93rd Academy Awards rules, revised with these dates and deadlines.

“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. 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,” said Academy President David Rubin and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson.

This date change might allow film festivals like Sundance – which is currently set to happen on January 21, 2021 – an ability to launch new awards contenders, provided the films in question also have a theatrical release within the allotted timeframe. Here are the key dates for the 2020/2021 Oscar season:

Preliminary voting begins Monday, February 1, 2021
Preliminary voting ends Friday, February 5, 2021
Oscar Shortlists Announcement Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Nominations voting begins Friday, March 5, 2021
Nominations voting ends Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Oscar Nominations Announcement Monday, March 15, 2021
Oscar Nominees Luncheon Thursday April 15, 2021
Finals voting begins Thursday April 15, 2021
Museum Gala Saturday, April 17, 2021
Finals voting ends Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Oscars Oscar Sunday, April 25, 2021
Museum Public Opening Friday, April 30, 2021
The Academy’s Scientific and Technical Awards presentation, which was scheduled for a June 20, 2020 ceremony in Beverly Hills, has been postponed to a later date still to be determined.

The 93rd Oscars will be held on Sunday, April 25, 2021, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network and in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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