Date shift for Oscars risks crowding out best British films of year
BRITISH films may struggle to receive future Oscar nominations because of plans to move the awards ceremony forward by two weeks, it has been claimed.
Cinema experts warned that a rearranged awards season timetable, set to be introduced in 2020, could affect the chances of best picture contenders created in the UK.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that the Oscars will take place on February 9 in two years’ time. That will be two weeks earlier in the year than the ceremony at Hollywood’s DolbyTheatre in 2019.
British film distributors and critics said the date shift would cause a “crush” of films being released within the awards corridor over Christmas, which will make it harder to stake claims for honours.
Anna Smith, president of The Critics’ Circle, said it would have “huge repercussions”. “The awards season is finelytuned and every department is going to be affected. With a shorter time frame to cram in all the awards contenders, and the issue of the Christmas holidays in the middle, independent films and non-American titles are particularly likely to be affected. UK titles – especially those without huge marketing budgets – would be right to be worried. Cinemas only have so many screens.”
Past British Oscar success stories include Danny Boyle’s 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire and Hugh Hudson’s 1981 cult classic Chariots of Fire, which picked up the best picture statuette.
Mark Batey, of the Film Distributors’ Association, said: “The awards season, or corridor, runs for roughly two or three months from December and the Oscars are the climax of that season.
“Every year a cluster of films vie for attention amid lots of coverage, media buzz and advertising. If we condense that period right down these pictures will cannibalise each other and the audience won’t have a chance to see them. It could end up in a crush.”
The change may also force Bafta to move its award ceremony, which is usually two weeks before the Oscars.
A spokesman said its “intention will be to stay ahead of the Oscars, as we have been since 2001”.