Hollywood’s night of nights – the Oscars – has been rescheduled for the first time in 40 years.
It was announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences the 93rd Academy would be postponed by two months from February 28, 2021 to April 25, 2021.
“For over a century, movies have played an important role in comforting, inspiring, and entertaining us during the darkest of times,” the Academy President David Rubin and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson said in a joint statement.”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 penalised for something beyond anyone’s control.”
Given that production has been halted on many films due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the deadline for submitting films for an eligible Oscar nomination has also been extended by two months from December 21, 2020 to February 28, 2021.
The last time the Oscars was postponed was back in 1981, after President Ronald Reagan was shot in Washington D.C. The ceremony was delayed by 24 hours, and the decision was made four hours before the A-list event was set to start.
Prior to this, the ceremony was postponed by two days in 1968 after the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. The Academy Awards were delayed for the first time by a week in 1938 due to floods in Los Angeles, the city where the prestigious event takes place.
