With the pandemic this past year many movie theaters were shut down. Because of this, not many movies have been released this year in theaters and many were released straight to digital. When fewer movies are released within the year, fewer movies become eligible for the Academy Awards. So what does this for this year’s Oscar Awards Ceremony?

More likely than not, this year’s Best Picture category will feature mostly films produced by Netflix, HBO, Hulu, and Apple TV, and Amazon in addition to other streaming services. It’s very possible that up to five Netflix films could be in the running for the highest honor at the show. Films like I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Da 5 Bloods, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Mank, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom were all made by Netflix and have been put into Variety’s “Best Picture Predictions”.  Despite this, there were a couple films that had theater releases such as Tenet and Emma. As the streaming age continues to emerge it should be interesting to see the future of film releases. Will theaters become obsolete? I certainly hope not, but the handling of this year’s Academy Awards does beg that question.

The Academy has already stated that they intend to have an in-person ceremony if possible. It will instead take place much later than usual in April rather than the usual January or February.  The eligibility period will be until February 28, 2021. Films that were intentionally made for a theatrical release will still be eligible even if they were put out onto streaming and VOD services. Very little is known about how the show will go down this year, but hopefully we will know more soon!