Oscars to Introduce ‘Popular Film’ Category, Shorter Award Ceremony

The Academy Awards will introduce a new “popular film” category and a shorter award ceremony for 2019. In a letter released to Academy members (per Deadline), it was announced that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’s board of governors has approved three key changes going forward for the awards.

The most immediately noteworthy change — and the most likely to be discussed ad nauseum for the next six months — is the decision to add a new category for outstanding achievement in popular film. The letter notes that further information including eligibility requirements will be announced later. The concession is an attempt to allow awards for films that are blockbuster hits that have been shut out of the Best Picture academy, such as science fiction, horror and superhero films.

The lack of nominations for blockbusters led to a change previously as well. After The Dark Knight failed to secure a Best Picture nomination at the 81st Academy Awards, the uproar led the Academy to expand the available nominations for Best Picture from five to to ten nominees. This was changed a couple years later to allow for a variable amount of between five and ten nominees depending on vote counts among the nomination ballots. None of these have done much to bring bigger hits into the fold, however; while some more successful films have made it in like Gravity, Pixar films and Mad Max: Fury Road, the expanded nominee list has largely been used to spotlight more independent films.

The immediate concern over this new category is whether it will ensure that popular films which might at least had a chance to receive a Best Picture nomination will be shut out. Until the expansion of the Best Picture nomination numbers, animation almost never received Best Picture nods. Even after, only two — Up in 2009 and Toy Story 3 in 2010 — have made the cut. The fact that there was a Best Animated Film award has often been pointed to as a possible reason for that — if you throw the animated films a bone, you don’t have to award them the big one. We’ll have to see how the criteria for Best Popular Film pans out before making too much judgment here, but that could be an issue.

In another concession, AMPAS announced that the Oscars telecast will now be kept to three hours. This is something that producers, critics and many viewers have been wanting for years, as the award shows have made going long a yearly tradition (one that is often joked about by the hosts). In order to shorten the telecast, certain awards will given out during commercial breaks with an edited version of the presentation to air later in the broadcast. At this time, the specific categories haven’t been determined. The push-back against this idea has been made for years by the people who work in the less prominent crafts who didn’t want to see their work diminished by being shunted off the ceremony.

In a final announced move, the Academy voted to move the 2020 Oscars from February 23rd to February 9th. The full letter via Deadline is below:

Dear Member,

Last night, the Board of Governors met to elect new board officers, and discuss and approve significant changes to the Oscars telecast.

The Board of Governors, staff, Academy members, and various working groups spent the last several months discussing improvements to the show.

Tonight, the Board approved three key changes:

1. A three-hour Oscars telecast

We are committed to producing an entertaining show in three hours, delivering a more accessible Oscars for our viewers worldwide.

To honor all 24 award categories, we will present select categories live, in the Dolby Theatre, during commercial breaks (categories to be determined). The winning moments will then be edited and aired later in the broadcast.

2. New award category

We will create a new category for outstanding achievement in popular film. Eligibility requirements and other key details will be forthcoming.

3. Earlier airdate for 92nd Oscars

The date of the 92nd Oscars telecast will move to Sunday, February 9, 2020, from the previously announced February 23. The date change will not affect awards eligibility dates or the voting process.

The 91st Oscars telecast remains as announced on Sunday, February 24, 2019.

We have heard from many of you about improvements needed to keep the Oscars and our Academy relevant in a changing world. The Board of Governors took this charge seriously.

We are excited about these steps, and look forward to sharing more details with you.

John Bailey and Dawn Hudson