Hollywood news banter: Oscars pushed, Hollywood’s silence on Georgia

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the Oscars ceremony will be postponed from February 28 until April 21, 2021, and the eligibility requirement for films, which normally ends at the end of the year, has been extended through February 2021.

This change could have a big effect on ABC, which regularly hosts the Academy Awards and depends on the ad revenue the Oscars bring in during the first quarter of the year. Now that revenue won’t arrive until the second quarter, and it may not be as much if the ceremony can’t have a fullfleged red carpet due to social distancing. The delay may also cause studios to change films’ release windows. Instead of releasing a blockbuster in December to build momentum ahead of awards season, studios could opt to release it in January or February.

The Academy also announced that future Oscar contenders will need to meet some kind of diversity requirement, but those guidelines won’t be announced until the end of July.