Welp, the Oscars are already trending on Twitter weeks out from the actual show and, like…not in a good way. The Hollywood Reporter and Variety report that the Academy Awards will be semi-cutting a few major categories from the actual broadcast, and people aren’t thrilled.
Turns out several awards will be handed out earlier in the ceremony (and off camera), including documentary short, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, original score, production design, animated short, live action short, and sound. The ceremony will start an hour before the televised/on-camera portion begins in order to present these awards (unclear how this will impact the red carpet), and then “clips” from the winners’ speeches will be “folded into” the live TV broadcast so they aren’t gone altogether.
Why, you ask? The Oscars are dealing with pressure to get higher ratings (last year’s ceremony was the least watched ever) and apparently the Academy thinks this will make it more TV-friendly? Anyway, Variety reports that this new plan will “allow more time for comedy, film clips, and musical numbers,” which has sparked a large backlash on social media:
Just FYI, the Academy tried to pull a similar move back in 2019 and then changed their minds after a bunch of criticism from people in the film industry—so guess we’ll see if they change their minds again after realizing “Oscars” is trending on Twitter right now for all the wrong reasons.
