The Oscars 2021 delayed to late April and eligibility window expanded

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The Oscars 2021 have been officially delayed by two months.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the delay for the Oscars 2021 on its official Twitter account. The new date for the ceremony is April 25, 2021, back from the original date of February 28. That also means the eligibility window is being expanded from a December 31, 2020 cutoff date to February 28, 2021 – meaning the Oscars 2021 will cover 14 months of films total.

The shortlist of nominations will be announced on February 9, and the nominations themselves will be announced on March 15.

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Word of the potential delay has been circulating for roughly a month, so this delay doesn't come as a surprise. Beyond potential concerns related to COVID-19 itself, tons of movies and TV shows have been delayed as a secondary effect of the pandemic. This delay will give the Oscars 2021 a broader selection of films to pull from.

The Academy has also decided to consider films that were originally intended for a theatrical release but ended up coming to streaming services only due to coronavirus concerns; that means movies such as Trolls World Tour will still be eligible for Oscars consideration.The Academy also consolidated two separate awards categories, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing, into a single Best Sound award for future years. 

We'll keep an eye out to see which films end up eligible for The Oscars 2021 as a result of this postponement.

Find more great films to watch right now with our guides to the best of Netflix and Amazon Prime below:

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.