Oscars 2022 gets new date as eligibility rules are relaxed again

The Academy has announced a new date for the 94^th Oscars next year.

The show had originally been scheduled for February 27, 2022, but the ceremony has now been moved to Sunday March 27, 2022.

For next year’s Academy Awards, the eligibility period will return to its usual December 31 deadline, meaning that to qualify for the 2022 Oscars a film must have a release date between March 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021. 

However, due to 2021 still being impacted by the pandemic, with cinemas only re-opening in the UK on May 17, eligibility requirements for next year’s Academy Awards will stay the same as this year.

This means that films will not, for the second year running, be held to such strict cinematic qualifying rules.

Crucially, those which have been – or will be – made available on streaming platforms ahead of any cinema release can qualify, as long as they meet all other eligibility requirements.

This includes the film being made available to watch on the Academy Screening Room member site within 60 days of its initial release.

Alternatively, films can qualify for the Oscars if they are shown in a cinema for at least seven consecutive days, three times a day, in one of the Academy’s six qualifying US cities.

Theses cities are Los Angeles, New York, the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Miami and Atlanta.

At this year’s Oscars, Best Picture nominees mostly relied on PVOD streaming platforms to find their audiences, including Promising Young Woman and Sound of Metal.

Mank and The Trial of the Chicago 7 were both nominees for Netflix, meaning they were available to subscribers at no extra cost.

For 2023, the Academy intends to expand the qualifying requirements for its 95^th Awards.

The full set of rules and speciality category submission deadlines are to be announced next month.

The 2022 Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Centre in Hollywood, and will be televised live in the US on ABC, and in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Nominations in all categories for the 94^th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, February 8, 2022.

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