Oscars 2021 ceremony postponed by two months

It is official, next year’s Oscars ceremony has been extended by two months. The 2021 Oscars were originally scheduled to air on February 28, but it was announced that the next Academy Awards ceremony has been postponed until April 25.

Academy President David Rubin and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson in a joint statement said:

“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,” 

This news is coming after multiple film eligibility rules changed for the 2021 ceremony. This included that film must screen for at least one week in a Los Angeles-area theater. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced movie theaters to close, films that debuted on streaming services became eligible to be nominated.