The Academy Awards have made further changes to this year’s schedule due to wildfires raging in Los Angeles. The new schedule will extend the voting window for the nominations to Jan. 17, advance the date for the announcement of the nominations to Jan. 23 and cancel the Oscar nominees luncheon, AMPAS announced Monday.
The March 2 date for the 97th Academy Awards ceremony will not be changed.
The news followed previous changes was made shortly after the wildfires hit last week.
In a statement, Academy CEO Bill Kramer and President Janet Yang said: “We are all devastated by the impact of the fires and the profound loss experienced by so many in our community. The Academy has always been a unifying force in the film industry, and we are determined to stand together in the face of difficulties.”
“Due to the still active fires in the Los Angeles area, we feel it is necessary to extend our voting period and move the date of our nomination announcements to give our members additional time,” they continued. “Furthermore, as we want to be responsive to the infrastructure and accommodation needs of the region over the next few weeks, it is imperative that we make some changes to our event schedule, which we believe will have the support of our industry.”
“Our members always share how important it is for us to come together as a community, and we are determined to use this opportunity to celebrate our resilient and compassionate industry. We also look forward to honoring our frontline workers who have helped with the fires , recognize those affected and encourage people to join the Academy to support relief efforts,” the message concluded. “We will get through this together and bring a sense of healing to our global film community.”
The voting period for the nominations, originally scheduled to end on Sunday 12 January and then extended to Tuesday 14 January, has now been extended to Friday 17 January, which was the original date the nominations were scheduled to be announced.
The nominations will now be announced on Thursday, January 23 at 5:30 a.m. PST, with the personal portion of the announcement canceled. The nominees will be revealed in a virtual event without in-person media coverage.
Additionally, the Academy Award Nominee Luncheon, originally scheduled for Monday, February 10, has been canceled. The science and technology awards, scheduled for Tuesday, February 18, will be rescheduled to a later date yet to be determined.
The changes will not change the date of the Oscars show, March 2, or the timetable for the final voting, which begins on February 11 and ends on February 18.
The new dates are subject to change, according to the academy.
AMPAS has also made a donation of $750,000 to the Motion Picture and Television Fund for the victims of the fires.
