Coronavirus Outbreak: Oscars board decides to push event by eight weeks; ceremony to be held on 25 April, 2021

For the fourth time in its history, the Oscars are being postponed . The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the ABC Television Network said Monday that the 93rd Academy Awards will now be held 25 April, 2021, eight weeks later than originally planned because of the pandemic’s effects on the movie industry. The Academy’s Board of Governors also decided to extend the eligibility window beyond the calendar year to 28 February, 2021, for feature films, and delay the opening of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures from December until 30 April, 2021. [caption id=“attachment_8434721” align=“alignnone” width=“1235”] The Oscars have been postponed for the fourth time in its history[/caption] “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 in a joint statement. Karey Burke, the president of ABC Entertainment, added: “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.”

The 12th annual Governors Awards has also been canceled. The event, in which honorary Oscars are bestowed to previously announced recipients, is generally held in Los Angeles during the second week of November. The untelevised event is a major gathering for many of the year’s awards hopefuls.

The film academy has been grappling with how to handle the pandemic’s near shutdown of the theatrical exhibition and film production and festival business since mid-March. With theaters shuttered, release dates pushed and major festivals like Cannes canceled,  the academy in April made the unprecedented decision to allow films that did not have a theatrical run to be eligible for the awards — but only for one year.

(Click  here  to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak) The Oscars ceremony date was the big lingering unknown, however. The organization’s leadership has acknowledged all along that the situation was fluid and that everything was on the table. Now, Oscars nominations will be announced on 15 March and the nominees’ luncheon will be on 15 April.

Still, many decisions need to be made. Academy leadership has not yet addressed the format of the show and whether it will be virtual or in-person. Further, the future eligibility of films for the 94th Oscars and that show date will be announced later.

More from Entertainment

'Jugnuma' Movie Review: Manoj Bajpayee, Deepak Dobriyal, Tillotama Shome’s terrific performances stood out in this beautifully restrained way of storytelling ‘Real fight’ is between Karisma Kapoor and Priya Sachdev: Sunjay Kapur's mother's lawyer says in HC: 'Rani Kapur does get impacted by it but...'

The Oscars have been postponed before, but never this far in advance. The ceremony was pushed back a week because of disastrous flooding in Los Angeles in 1938. In 1968, it was delayed two days following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and in 1981, it was put off for 24 hours after President Ronald Reagan was shot in Washington D.C. The 1981 decision was made four hours before the broadcast was scheduled to begin.

The eligibility window was extended beyond 12 months once before — in advance of the 6th Academy Awards in 1934.

Other entertainment industry awards shows are also in flux. The 74th Tony Awards, originally set for 7 June, has been postponed indefinitely. But the 72nd Emmy Awards is still holding onto 20 September. The BAFTAs announced Monday that its annual film awards were being pushed from 14 February, 2021 to 11 April. And the 78th Golden Globes does not yet have a date.

Even as the country begins to “open up,” studios are still making decisions to delay releases. Just Friday,  Warner Bros. announced that it was pushing back what was supposed to be the first major movie in theaters, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, by two weeks.