10 Changes The Oscars Desperately Needs To Make
3. Return The Ceremony Date To Late February/Early March
Last year, the Academy announced that the 2020 ceremony would take place on February 9th; three weeks earlier than this year’s, and almost a whole month earlier than 2018’s ceremony.
This causes in insane amount of chaos. Traditionally, the Oscars rounds up the awards season. Pundits change their bets and voters act based around how the buzz around films changes as the season steadily progresses and other bodies give out their awards. This has forced every other body to move their ceremonies earlier.
Some may think that because the other awards bodies are changing their respective schedules to fit around the Oscars massive timing change that the problem has sorted itself out, but this is an even bigger issue in itself. It means even less time for films to be seen before they are nominated and voted on, which considering the previously aforementioned issues with screeners and the cut-off point for nominated films release eligibility being December 31st, makes it even more likely that films will go unseen and unrewarded.