Oscars delayed two months to April 25 due to coronavirus

The Hollywood Reporter

The 93rd Academy Awards will be held on April 25, 2021, a two-month delay from its original Feb. 28 date, in response to the coronavirus. The Academy has also expanded the eligibility window for the 93rd Oscars. Instead of eligibility ending as it usually does at the end of the year, it will end on Feb. 28, 2021. As The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg notes, the Academy indicated in a statement that the Oscars will still be held "at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood" and "will air live on ABC," which he calls an apparent rejection of the possibility of a pre-taped and/or virtual gathering. “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,” Academy president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson said in a statement. “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.” Feinberg adds that while the postponed ceremony is "highly unusual, these moves are not unprecedented. The Oscars has been delayed three times before — due to LA flooding in 1938; following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968; and after the attempted assassination of Pres. Ronald Reagan in 1981. And, as I noted back in March, the Oscars eligibility window was extended beyond the traditional 12-month period once before, ahead of the 6th Oscars. (That ceremony, in March 1934, was preceded by a 17-month eligibility window spanning Aug. 1, 1932 through Dec. 31, 1933, so that thereafter the eligibility period could be the actual calendar year preceding each ceremony, Jan. 1 through Dec. 31.)" ALSO: BAFTA moves its Film Awards to April 11 to be aligned with the Oscars.