The 2021 Academy Awards are expected to be delayed by up to eight weeks.
The board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who organise the annual ceremony, are to meet via Zoom on Monday (15.06.20) to discuss the date the 93rd Oscars will take place.
The event was scheduled for 28 February, 2021, but after the coronavirus pandemic caused chaos in Hollywood and put the movie industry on hold, the governors are likely to agree to postpone the ceremony for up to two months, the Hollywood Reporter has claimed.
The meeting is also set to see the group extend the eligibility window beyond December 31, 2020, in recognition of the fact that the pandemic is still ongoing.
However, the governors are waiting to see how the pandemic continues to impact on the industry before deciding on a format for movies’ biggest night.
The Academy also need to decide what to do about the annual Governors Awards, which usually take place in November and see honorary Oscars handed out. One possible solution is for the honourees to be announced in September as usual, but presented with their trophies at the main Academy Awards ceremony.
The Oscars were previously delayed on three occasions, due to flooding in Los Angeles in 1938, following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968 and again in 1981, following an assassination attempt on the life of President Ronald Reagan.
In 1934, the Oscars had a 17-moth eligibility window, which ran from 1 August 1932 until 31 December 1933 so thereafter the eligibility period would be a full calendar year.