In January, producers of the upcoming Oscar Awards ceremony (on March 15) dropped a bomb. He announced that this year, only two of the songs nominated in the Best Original Song category – the global hit ‘Golden’ – will be performed live. kpop demon hunter And that incredible gap-block scene from ‘I Lied To You’ Sinners.
It was argued that out of all the nominated songs, these two played the most important roles in their respective films. The producers also needed to save time, “to create a fast-paced, entertaining and cohesive show.”
Soon, these conversations about saving time will become controversial because starting in 2029, the Oscar ceremony will no longer be televised, but live-streamed on YouTube.
reputation at stake
Hollywood has faced a lot of bad PR in the 2020s, and on many different fronts. The disappointing quality of average big-budget releases, iconic hits due to the writer’s strike in 2023, the shocking 2021 death of cinematographer Halina Hutchins after being shot with a gun on set by actor-producer Alec Baldwin.
Things didn’t look too good on the awards front either, what with the Oscars giving Best Picture to an old, tone-deaf, visually terrible film? The Green Book In 2019, and the Golden Globes became embroiled in two separate racism scandals (discrimination against Asian-Americans and African-American).
The Golden Globes went on hiatus in 2022 and returned with a brand-new voting body that included diversity requirements. The Oscars have already stipulated in 2024 that every eligible film in each category must meet the Academy’s “representation and inclusion standards.” Basically, the film must meet two of the four stated standards related to representation, creative leadership, industry reach and audience development.
Therefore, most of the changes at the Oscars and Golden Globes awards ceremonies can be read in this light, that is, damage control. But one could argue that the Oscars were invented for damage control – in the 1920s, it was MGM founder Louis B. Mayer who formed the Academy to maintain big studio control over Hollywood talent. It was always intended to be a kind of “control union” that thwarts genuine unionization efforts.
What’s in the store?
First of all, don’t expect any major surprises when it comes to the major awards categories this season. The Oscars (like the Golden Globes) are trying to restore their image and be seen as a reliable marker of quality again. Most Favorite and Universally Acclaimed sinners It has been nominated for 16 awards and is likely to win Best Film, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Timothée Chalamet is likely to win the Best Actor award for his performance Marty SupremeWhile Jessie Buckley is in the running for Best Actress Hamnett.
Second, the Academy has stipulated that in order to vote in a category, members must prove that they have watched every film in that category on the Academy’s viewing portal. In some circles it has been termed a “brutal regime”. the new York Times It was reported last year that many Academy voters had not seen brutalist before voting on it, citing its 215-minute runtime.
Now, far be it from me to criticize an organization apparently invented for union-busting, but shouldn’t this have been a requirement a long time ago? Why did it take a bunch of newspaper op-eds to make sure that the Academy’s sage voters actually saw the films they were supposed to evaluate?
as per last year forbes According to the article, Oscar viewership has been in steady decline in 21scheduled tribe century. In the early 2000s, total viewership was “in the range of 40 million viewers”, with a peak viewership of 57.5 million in 1998 (it was titanic Year). However, the number was only 23.6 million in 2020 and 19.69 million in 2025. Therefore, the Academy can do its best to ensure that all the popular, crowd-pleasing nominees win, and it still It may not have much impact on the bottom line.
Robert Aramayo’s recent BAFTA win over stalwarts like Timothée Chalamet and Leonardo DiCaprio will certainly influence the Oscar prediction market. It remains to be seen whether the Academy follows suit and throws us a curve ball or two, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
The author and journalist is working on his first non-fiction book.
published – February 26, 2026 04:34 PM IST