Oscars 2021 Has Been Postponed Due to The Pandemic
One of the largest celebrity events of the year, next year's Oscars ceremony has been pushed back by two months.
This is the latest of events to have been affected by the coronavirus. The 93rd Academy Awards originally due to take place on 28 February, has been pushed back to 25 April 2021, announced the Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences on Monday June 15.
The Academy has thus extended the release period of films eligible for the Oscars, which goes from December 31, 2020 to February 28, 2021. This is done in order “to give filmmakers the flexibility necessary to finish and release their films without being penalized," explains an Academy member in a statement.
The pandemic has halted work on a number of films which were due to be released at the end of the year. This change in also in response to the concerns of many cinema professionals who believe that the films released in 2020 would be too few to allow a solid selection.
As for whether the crowd of stars usually present to attend the ceremony will indeed be there, nothing has yet been decided. "We are in unfamiliar territory this year and we will continue to work with our Academy partners to ensure that next year's show is safe, " said Karey Burke, President of ABC who is broadcasting this flagship Hollywood night.
The Oscars has been delayed three times in the past, due to the floods in Los Angeles during 1938, after the assassination of Marthin Luther King in 1968 and the attempted assassination against President Ronald Reagan in 1981. But the ceremony never had been delayed more than a week, making this the longest it has been delayed.
The inauguration of the Oscar museum, which is nearing completion in Los Angeles, has also been postponed by the Academy. The site, which was originally meant to be presented to the public on December 14, will finally open its doors on April 30, 2021, in the wake of the 93rd edition of the Oscars.
