The Oscar telecast is about to see a major change & it could divide the casual moviegoer from movie buffs.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, just five months after the lowest-rated Academy Awards telecast on record (a mere 26.5 million viewers tuned in), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ board of governors not only re-elected cinematographer John Bailey as its president but also approved several major changes to the ceremony. One of these changes will address the concerns of many that the show runs way too long. There are 24 competitive awards & the casual moviegoer usually only cares about the major awards. To address that, Bailey and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson said in a letter to members that the board has “committed to producing an entertaining show in three hours.” They explain that this will be achieved partly by “presenting select categories live, in the Dolby Theatre, during commercial breaks (categories to be determined).” Those categories will not be removed from the telecast; instead, “the winning moments will then be edited and aired later in the broadcast.” I’m guessing this is where Best Animated Short Or Documentary Short Subject will go for example.
Another change involves creating a new category for outstanding achievement in popular film. They added that “eligibility requirements and other key details will be forthcoming.” This will put the prestige Oscar ceremony in line with the MTV Movie Awards & The People’s Choice Awards. The reasoning for this change is that ratings seem to be determined by the popularity of the films. If mostly small films are up for the top prize that no one has heard of, they will likely not watch. If this change is made in time for next year’s Oscars, the popular film award could see nominees like Blank Panther, Deadpool 2 & Avengers: Infinity War, making the cut.
The changes were pushed for by ABC, who has the telecast on its network until 2028. Apparently, after the numbers came out for the most recent ceremony, ABC has a meeting with the board and insisted that these changes be made. They had been pushing the Academy to nominate more mainstream films for a while now and this new category honoring popular films was an idea implemented by the network. They have also been stressing the show has to be shorter and that the awards should air earlier in the month of February as to avoid award season fatigue by airing it too late. The telecast is expected to be pushed up to February 9, a change that will take place in 2020. As of this writing, it wasn’t clear if the popular film category would be added in time for the 2019 ceremony or if it would also make its debut at the 2020 show.
