By Matt Neglia
Today, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced the key dates for the 94th Academy Awards along with other guidelines for this year’s qualifying films.
​Click below to see the news.
Instead of late February, the Oscars will be held in late March on Sunday, March 27th, 2022. The show, which will once again air live on ABC from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The show was originally announced to take place on February 27, 2022, before today’s switch.
What’s more important is that they announced the eligibility period for Academy Awards consideration would return to the standard December 31st deadline, a welcome decision that confused and alienated fans last year: especially after larger studio films were pushed back to the following year after the announcement was made, which needlessly dragged out last year’s awards season. A feature film must have a qualifying release date between March 1st, 2021, and December 31st, 2021. As for the pandemic’s effect on all of this, the Academy has decided to keep the same streaming guidelines from last year’s Oscars for this year. A full breakdown of that can be found here. The entire 94th Academy Awards rules and specialty category submission deadlines will be announced next month.
The key dates for the 2021 awards season are as follows:
General entry categories submission deadline – Monday, November 15, 2021
Preliminary voting begins – 9 a.m. PT Friday, December 10, 2021
Preliminary voting ends – 5 p.m. PT Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Oscar Shortlists Announcement – Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Eligibility period ends – Friday, December 31, 2021
Governors Awards – Saturday, January 15, 2022
Nominations voting begins – 9 a.m. PT Thursday, January 27, 2022
Nominations voting ends – 5 p.m. PT Tuesday, February 1, 2022
Oscar Nominations Announcement – Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Oscar Nominees Luncheon – Monday, March 7, 2022
Finals voting begins – 9 a.m. PT Thursday, March 17, 2022
Finals voting ends – 5 p.m. PT Tuesday, March 22, 2022
94th Oscars – Sunday, March 27, 2022
What do you think of these announcements? Are you happy the Oscars will be held once again in late March compared to late February? What about the decision to have the streaming rules in effect again this year? Let us know in the comments section below or on our Twitter account.
You can follow Matt and hear more of his thoughts on the Oscars and Film on Twitter at @NextBestPicture
