the hollywood academy will announce the winners of 8 Oscar categories before the televised ceremony begins, in an attempt to lighten the gala and raise audience data following the lows recorded in recent editions. Although the change has not been publicly announced, the president of the Academy, David Rubin, communicated the decision in a letter sent to the members of the organization that later circulated among the specialized press in Hollywood.
Of the 23 categories that make up the Oscars, eight will be announced before the gala starts on March 27, with the public already seated at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles (USA). Then, during the broadcast, a summary will be issued with the reactions of the winners.
The affected categories are best documentary, best editing, best makeup and hair, best production design, best sound, best short, best animated short and best soundtrack. The change will reduce the Hispanic presence in the ceremony, since it includes sections in which the Spaniards Alberto Iglesias (for the soundtrack of ‘Madres Paralelas’) and Alberto Mielgo (aspiring for best animated short for ‘The Windshield Wiper’) compete. , and the Chilean Hugo Covarrubias (candidate for the same award with ‘Bestia’). In 2018, the Academy already announced its intention to remove the technical awards from the gala and deliver them during the commercial break, but retracted following the rejection of the cinephile community.
Other awards, such as the Grammys and the Latin Grammys, deliver most of the awards in a previous ceremony that is not broadcast on television, although their case is more justified because they have almost a hundred categories (several for each style of music) compared to 23 for the Oscars.
The intention of the organizers is to put on a more entertaining and agile show following last year’s ceremony, which recorded historical lows in audience. In fact, the Oscars will open their voting to the public for the first time in history and will recognize the most voted film on Twitter. Although it will not be an official award as such, it is the second time that the Academy has tried to inaugurate a ‘popular’ section, following its members voted once morest the creation of a category bearing that name. His intention was to attract the audience of ‘blockbusters’, such as the Marvel, DC Comics and Star Wars franchises, without the need to include them in their general categories, reserved for auteur films or films from the independent circuit.
As an example, this year none of the ten films nominated for best picture is among the ten highest grossing films of the season. ‘The Power of the Dog’, ‘Licorice Pizza’, ‘Coda’, ‘Don’t Look Up’, ‘King Richard’, ‘Nightmare Alley’, ‘Drive My Car’, ‘Dune’, ‘Belfast’ and ‘ West Side Story’ are the Oscar nominees for best picture this year.
For their part, Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes will present the gala.