Oscars: 93rd Academy Awards moved to April 25, 2021; eligibility period extended by two months

Nominations will be Monday, March 15, 2021; Academy Museum to open April 30, 2021

Eligibility period extended, is now January 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the ABC Television Network today announced the 93rd Oscars® ceremony will move to Sunday, April 25, 2021, as a result of the global pandemic caused by COVID-19.  The show, which will air live on ABC, was originally scheduled for February 28, 2021.  Coinciding with the Oscars celebration, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, initially scheduled to open to the public on December 14, 2020, will now open on April 30, 2021, also as a result of the health crisis.

“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 coming Oscars and the opening of our new museum will mark an historic moment, gathering movie fans around the world to unite through cinema.” 

“We find ourselves in uncharted territory this year and will continue to work with our partners at the Academy to ensure next year’s show is a safe and celebratory event that also captures the excitement of the opening of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures,” said Karey Burke, president, ABC Entertainment.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano and featuring six floors of exhibition spaces, education and special event spaces, a conservation studio, a restaurant, a museum store, the 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater and the 288-seat Ted Mann Theater, will move its opening to April 30, 2021.

Bill Kramer, director of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, said, “I speak for all of us at the Museum when I say that we have been eagerly awaiting the moment when we can share the Academy Museum with movie lovers everywhere.  With the unprecedented and devastating pandemic happening around the world and our commitment first and foremost to the health and safety of our visitors and staff, we have made the difficult decision to wait a few more months to open our doors.  Thankfully, with COVID-19 safety protocols in place, exhibitions continue to be installed.  We look forward to April 2021 when Los Angeles and the world will be able to join together as the Academy celebrates the Oscars and the opening of its long-dreamed-of Museum.”

Dates also have shifted for the Academy Awards® eligibility period, submission deadlines and related awards season events.  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.

During this time, it has become necessary to make exceptional changes to the Academy’s standard annual awards schedule.  The intent going forward is to ultimately return to awarding excellence for films released in the January-December calendar year. Future eligibility windows and the Oscar® show date for 2022 will be announced at a later date.

Academy key dates for the 2020/2021 Oscar season are as follows:

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 Academy’s Governors Awards, an annual celebration held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood, will not take place this fall.  Additional information about the ceremony and selection of honorees will be provided at a later date.

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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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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