Oscars 2021: Academy Awards postponed until April

Ceremony was supposed to take place in February 2021

Oscars statuettes on display during the 92nd Academy Awards on 9 February 2020 in Hollywood, California. (Matt Petit - Handout/AMPAS via Getty Images)

The Oscars have been postponed for only the fourth time in their history, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 2021 ceremony will now be held on 25 April.

It was supposed to take place on 28 February 2021.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the change on Monday, also explaining that the eligibility period has been extended to 28 February.

Nominations are now set to be unveiled on 15 March 2021.

“Our hope, in extending the eligibility period and our Awards date, is to provide the flexibility filmmakers need to finish and release their films without being penalized for something beyond anyone’s control,” Academy President David Rubin and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson said in a joint statement.

Karey Burke, the president of ABC Entertainment, added: “We find ourselves in uncharted territory this year and will continue to work with our partners at the Academy to ensure next year’s show is a safe and celebratory event.”

The opening of the academy’s Museum of Motion Pictures has been delayed, too, to 30 April 2021.

The film academy has been grappling with how to handle the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Cinemas shut down as much of the US entered lockdown in March. High-profile film releases were pushed back, and major festivals such as Cannes were cancelled.

In April, the academy made the unprecedented decision to allow films that did not have a theatrical run to be eligible for the awards — but only for one year.

Details for the 2021 ceremony haven't been announced. Notably, academy leadership has not yet addressed the format of the show, and whether it will be virtual or in-person.

The Oscars have been postponed before, but never this far in advance. The ceremony was pushed back a week because of disastrous flooding in Los Angeles in 1938. In 1968, it was delayed two days following the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. And in 1981, it was put off for 24 hours after President Ronald Reagan was shot in Washington, DC. The 1981 decision was made four hours before the broadcast was scheduled to begin.

The eligibility window was extended beyond 12 months once before — in advance of the sixth Academy Awards in 1934.

Other entertainment industry awards shows are also in flux. The 74th Tony Awards, originally set for 7 June, have been postponed indefinitely, but the 72nd Emmy Awards are still holding onto 20 September. The 78th Golden Globes do not yet have a date.

Movie studios are still making decisions to delay releases. Just Friday, Warner Bros announced that it was pushing back what was supposed to be the first major movie in cinemas during the early reopening phase, Christopher Nolan's Tenet, by two weeks.

The Associated Press contributed to this report