عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Entertainment

Oscars Set Next Show Date for March 2022

The 94th Oscars will be held on March 27, 2022. (AP)
The 94th Oscars will be held on March 27, 2022. (AP)
TT
20
TT

Oscars Set Next Show Date for March 2022

The 94th Oscars will be held on March 27, 2022. (AP)
The 94th Oscars will be held on March 27, 2022. (AP)

Planning is already underway for the 94th Oscars, which will be held on March 27, 2022, the film academy and ABC said Thursday.

After a year of disruption, innovation and catastrophically low ratings, the Academy Awards are getting back to business as usual. The show will return to the Dolby Theatre for its ABC broadcast and the eligibility window will once again close at the end of the calendar year.

This past year, the academy extended the eligibility window into February and canceled non-televised events like the Governors Awards and the Nominees Luncheon because of the pandemic. All those trimmings are now back on the schedule, with the Governors Awards set for Jan. 15 and the luncheon to be held on March 7. Nominations will be announced on Feb. 8.

The academy said, however, that dates remain subject to change. The organization is also acknowledging that the movie business is still being impacted by the pandemic and are extending the streaming eligibility caveat they adopted last year into the 2021 awards season. That means that films don’t necessarily have to have a theatrical run to qualify and can debut on streaming or video on demand services.

The end of March broadcast date is much later than usual for Hollywood’s biggest awards show. Originally the 94th edition was set to air on Feb. 27, but that month is also crowded with major live events, including the 2022 Olympics and the Super Bowl.

The audience for the 93rd Oscars, which were held at Los Angeles’ Union Station in late April, was less than half of its previous low, with only 9.85 million viewers tuning in to watch “Nomadland” win best picture. It was par for the course for a pandemic awards show: Both the Golden Globes (6.9 million viewers) and Grammy Awards (9.2 million) had record low audiences as well.

And next year will be different without the Golden Globes, which generally air in early January, stealing some of the Oscars thunder. NBC said earlier this year that it would not air the Golden Globes in 2022 amid controversies and calls for reform within the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization that puts it on.

Most Viewed

 
Entertainment

Now Playing in Movie Theaters: 73 Minutes of Cat Videos, for a Good Cause

This image released by Oscilloscope Laboratories shows promotional art for Cat Video Fest 2025. (Oscilloscope Laboratories via AP)
This image released by Oscilloscope Laboratories shows promotional art for Cat Video Fest 2025. (Oscilloscope Laboratories via AP)
TT
20
TT

Now Playing in Movie Theaters: 73 Minutes of Cat Videos, for a Good Cause

This image released by Oscilloscope Laboratories shows promotional art for Cat Video Fest 2025. (Oscilloscope Laboratories via AP)
This image released by Oscilloscope Laboratories shows promotional art for Cat Video Fest 2025. (Oscilloscope Laboratories via AP)

The best of the internet’s cat videos are coming to the big screen this weekend. Cat Video Fest is a 73-minute, G-rated selection of all things feline —silly, cuddly, sentimental and comedic—that’s playing in more than 500 independent theaters in the US and Canada.

A portion of ticket proceeds benefit cat-focused charities, shelters and animal welfare organization. Since 2019, it’s raised over $1 million.

The videos are curated by Will Braden, the Seattle-based creator of the comedically existential shorts, Henri, le Chat Noir. His business cards read: “I watch cat videos.” And it’s not a joke or an exaggeration. Braden watches thousands of hours of internet videos to make the annual compilation.

“I want to show how broad the idea of a cat video can be so there’s animated things, music videos, little mini documentaries,” Braden said. “It isn’t all just, what I call, ‘America’s Funniest Home Cat Videos.’ It’s not all cats falling into a bathtub. That would get exhausting.”

Now in its eighth year, Cat Video Fest is bigger than ever, with a global presence that’s already extended to the UK and Denmark, and, for the first time, to France, Spain, Japan and Brazil. Last year, the screenings made over $1 million at the box office.

In the early days, it was a bit of a process trying to convince independent movie theaters to program Cat Video Fest. But Braden, and indie distributor Oscilloscope Laboratories, have found that one year is all it takes to get past that hurdle.

“Everywhere that does it wants to do it again,” Braden said.

Current theatrical partners include Alamo Drafthouse, IFC Center, Nitehawk, Vidiots, Laemmle and Music Box. The screenings attract all variety of audiences, from kids and cat ladies to hipsters and grandparents and everyone in between.

“It’s one of the only things, maybe besides a Pixar movie or Taylor Swift concert, that just appeals to everybody,” Braden said.

And the plan is to keep going.

“We’re not going to run out of cat videos and we’re not going to run out of people who want to see it,” Braden said. “All I have to do is make sure that it’s really funny and entertaining every year.”