Oscars: Planning for 2022 Ceremony Gets Underway as Candidates Are Sought for Board Elections (Exclusive)

The 93rd Oscars wasn’t even three weeks ago, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is already looking ahead to the 94th.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that during a meeting Wednesday night, the Academy’s Awards and Events Committee began discussing the window of eligibility for that ceremony — something that distributors want to know soon in order to plan when and how they to launch their hopefuls, given that the Cannes Film Festival will be in July and the fall film festivals are already considering titles for their lineups — and the date of the ceremony itself.

In the wake of a season with an eligibility window that, as usual, began Jan. 1, but was extended from the usual Dec. 31 cutoff to one Feb. 28 due to the pandemic, the likeliest scenario for this season seems to be a return to a Dec. 31 cutoff, meaning a shorter-than-usual eligibility window.

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As for the Oscars ceremony itself, the board seems to be honing in on a Sunday in late February or early March 2022 — perhaps February 27 or March 6 — in order to avoid Super Bowl LVI, which will take place in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 13, and the winter Olympics, which will take place in Beijing between Friday, Feb. 4, and Sunday, Feb. 20.

Deliberations about the eligibility window and show date are ongoing, but a firm decision and announcement could come as early as next week.

Meanwhile, the Academy’s nearly 10,000 members are being encouraged via email to throw their hat into the ring (between May 17 and May 21) to be candidates for board of governors elections that will be held from June 7 through June 11.

As always, one of the three seats on the board from each of the 17 branches will be up for grabs. However, this year’s election cycle will be different than prior ones, in that it will be impacted by measures passed last June as part of the Academy’s Aperture 2025 inclusion initiative, including stricter term limits that will prevent some incumbent governors and branch executive committee members from seeking re-election.