Oscars ceremony delayed as Academy extends qualifying deadline

By Rick Marshall Published June 15, 2020

The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony will happen a little later than initially expected, with the 2021 Oscars now officially postponed by two months.

On Monday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a new date for the annual awards ceremony, which was initially scheduled to happen February 28, 2021. The Oscars will now be handed out April 25, 2021.

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Rumors began circulating in May that the Academy Awards ceremony might be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced theaters around the world to close their doors and halted production on many films — some of which were expected to premiere this year.

The Academy previously extended the deadline for films to be eligible for Oscars. According to the new rules, a feature-length film must now have a release date between January 1, 2020, and Feb. 28, 2021.

The Academy Awards have previously been postponed three times: Once in 1938 due to flooding, again in 1968 after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and then a third time in 1981 after there was an assassination attempt on U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

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