Oscars delayed until April 25; film eligibility window extended

The 93rd Academy Awards will take place in April next year.

On Monday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that the annual ceremony would leave its Feb. 28, 2021 date in favor of one in late April, as the coronavirus pandemic has shuttered movie theaters around the world and caused many movie studios to delay film releases.

The Academy Awards will now take place on April 25, 2021.

This is the fourth time the awards ceremony has been delayed. Other postponements ocurred in 1938, when it was pushed due to flooding in Los Angeles; in 1968, after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and in 1981, after the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.

The Academy Awards will still be held at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood and will air live on ABC, the academy said. It is the organization’s intent to return back to the normal eligibility guidelines next year.

Additionally, the submission deadline for the awards ceremony has shifted to Feb. 28, 2021. It was initially set to close on Dec. 31, 2020.

“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,” Academy President David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson said in a joint statement.

Also on Monday, the Television Academy announced that the Creative Arts Emmys, a precursor awards ceremony to the Primetime Emmy Awards, would be held virtually this year as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus.

The Television Academy still plans on hosting the Primetime Emmys on Sept. 20, however they are evaluating safety measures for the ceremony.