In a continuing effort to boost flagging viewership, the organizers of the Academy Awards are looking to move the ceremonies ahead several weeks ahead in 2012, but in an already crowded awards field, with considerable competition from the last weeks of the NFL season and the run up to the Super Bowl, it might be a difficult prospect.
Just look at this year’s early 2011 and you can see what kind of challenges the Academy and their broadcaster ABC faces: Jan. 14’s Critics’ Choice Movie Awards on VH1; Jan. 16’s Golden Globe Awards on NBC; Jan. 30’s Screen Actors Guild Awards on TNT and TBS; and Feb. 13’s British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards on BBC America. The Oscars usually act as the grand finale to the multiple awards ceremonies but as Academy president President Tom Sherak notes, “We still are the mother of all awards shows. But in today’s world, everybody wants it now. People don’t want to wait. You need to stay relevant.”
Of course, such a move is not without repercussions throughout the industry. If the ceremonies go to January, it means the window to get out screeners and do balloting becomes more condensed. In order to solve those issues, the Academy is turning to the internet to see how they can do both voting and film distribution to members securely. This is quite a reversal from a few years ago when DVD screeners were banned in the face of rampant piracy (not that the issue has been solved).
Of course, this plan is already facing some criticism. It is already very difficult for indie studios to get their films in front of Academy members and adding an additional hurdle of having them login to their desktop or laptop to watch a film (which is not the ideal format to watch them to begin with) will make that task even harder. Bruce Davis, the executive director of the Academy admits, “there has been some concern expressed about the visual quality on computers.”
However, the decision is far from being made. The Academy is first waiting to see what the NFL’s plans are for 2012 — they are considering extending the season by a few games — before tinkering with their own schedule. But if the move is made, it will have a strong ripple effect and will essentially force other ceremonies (Golden Globes, etc) to move their dates around. The Oscars are the big one and no one will want to hand their statues once the industry’s biggest honors are handed out.