INHABITANTS Official Trailer (2025)

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INHABITANTS Official Trailer (2025)

Olivia Burton, 23, moves to California with her boyfriend - Francis Morales, 24 - going against the wishes of their respective family members. Francis’s mother, Lillian, is a devout Catholic who disapproves of her son’s cohabitation and makes her feelings known in the form of violent, religiously themed postcards. Despite these objections, the young lovers settle into their new, exciting life together. Their bliss is interrupted, however, after a freak accident leaves Francis physically and mentally wounded. Soon, he’s suffering from night terrors - whispering in his sleep to a figure Olivia cannot see and sleepwalking to strange corners of the house. These episodes frighten Olivia and also suggest that Francis may be hiding something from her. Her investigation leads to a terrifying and perverse discovery; they are being haunted by the ghost of Francis’s childhood youth minister - an entity who is enraged by their cohabitation and has come to punish them for their sins.
"This is some nasty business you got yourself into, 'Liv." Gravitas has unveiled an official trailer for an indie horror psychological thriller film called Inhabitants, marking the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Matt McClung. Now set for release in February for anyone curious about it. A young woman moves in with her lapsed Catholic boyfriend, going against the wishes of their respective family members. But Francis soon ends up suffering from night terrors - whispering in his sleep to a figure Olivia cannot see and sleepwalking to strange corners of the house. Her investigation leads to a terrifying and perverse discovery; they are being haunted by the ghost of Francis's childhood youth minister - an entity who is enraged by their cohabitation and has come to punish them for their sins. Scary! Starring Anna Jacoby-Heron as Olivia, Josh Andrés Rivera as Francis, with Ana Auther, Kevin Nealon, and Todd Robert Anderson. This doesn't seem particularly interesting unless you're really into Catholic horror & also need to free yourself from your sins.

Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Matt McClung's horror film Inhabitants, direct from YouTube:

Inhabitants Film Poster

Olivia Burton (starring Anna Jacoby-Heron) moves to California with her boyfriend Francis, against the wishes of their respective family members. Francis's mother, Lillian, is a devout Catholic who disapproves of her son’s cohabitation and makes her feelings known in the form of violent, religious-themed postcards. Despite these objections, the young lovers settle into their exciting life together. Their bliss is interrupted, however, after a freak accident leaves Francis physically & mentally wounded. Soon, he's suffering from night terrors - whispering in his sleep to a figure Olivia cannot see and sleepwalking to strange corners of the house. These episodes frighten Olivia and also suggest that Francis may be hiding something from her. Inhabitants is written and directed by American indie filmmaker Matt McClung, now making his feature directorial debut after many other short films previously. Produced by Thomas Rennier. Gravitas will debut McClung's Inhabitants film direct-to-VOD starting on February 14th, 2025 this winter. Anyone curious?
"I worry the humans aren't looking for truth..." Indeed. Netflix has unveiled the full official trailer for The Witcher: Sirens of The Deep, the next animated movie in The Witcher spin-off series. Netflix will launch this for streaming in February next month for anyone interested. It's the second anime feature following The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf (2021) set in this universe. Geralt of Rivia, a mutated monster hunter, is hired to investigate a series of attacks in a seaside village and soon finds himself drawn into a centuries-old conflict between humans and merpeople. He must count on friends – old and new – to solve the mystery before the hostilities between the two kingdoms escalate into an all-out war. Featuring the voices of Doug Cockle as Geralt of Rivia, Joey Batey, Anya Chalotra, and Christina Wren. This anime is once again created in Korea by the animation houses Studio Mir & Platige Image & Hivemind. Seems like a good time.

Here's the official trailer for Kang Hei Chul's The Witcher: Sirens of The Deep, from Netflix's YouTube:

The Witcher: Sirens of The Deep Series

The Witcher: Sirens of The Deep Series

The Witcher: Sirens of The Deep Series

Geralt of Rivia, a mutated monster hunter, is hired to investigate a series of attacks in a seaside village and finds himself drawn into a centuries-old conflict between humans and merpeople. He must count on friends -- old and new -- to solve the mystery before the hostilities between the two kingdoms escalate into all-out war. The Witcher: Sirens of The Deep is an animated movie directed by animator / filmmaker Kang Hei Chul, director on the "Lookism" series, and an animator on Teen Titans GO! To the Movies and The Death of Superman and others. The screenplay is written by Mike Ostrowski and Rae Benjamin. Produced by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich. Creative consultant is Andrzej Sapkowski. Made by Hivemind, Platige Image, and Studio Mir for Netflix. Netflix will debut Kang Hei Chul's The Witcher: Sirens of The Deep animated movie streaming on Netflix starting February 11th, 2025 coming soon this winter. Who wants to watch?
Gravitas Ventures has teamed up with Collider to reveal that Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes star Josh Andrés Rivera's next project is the horror movie Inhabitants, whose trailer we're debuting in this article. The movie stars Rivera as a tormented young man who has to fight demons from his past, and the release date is set for Valentine's Day. The story is pretty straightforward: Rivera plays Francis Morales, a young man who decides to move in with his girlfriend Olivia (Anna Jacoby-Heron) in a house in California. However, their family members are against it, and the one that's most vocal about it is Francis' mother, a devout Catholic. She makes her disapproval known through violent postcards. After a freak accident, Francis starts to feel a presence in his house, and has to resort to his mother's help to get rid of the sinister figure.

The trailer for Inhabitants sets up an eerie environment for Francis and Olivia. The mysterious figure in the house puts an uncomfortable sense of unease throughout the whole trailer, which means that the movie's potential of giving you nightmares is high. It also suggests that Inhabitants will be the kind of story in which the mystery is unpeeled layer by layer, and it invites us to discover along with the characters what exactly is going on in the house. The atmospheric trailer makes it seem like the movie will be one of early 2025's must-watch titles.

Who Is The Team Behind 'Inhabitants'?
Inhabitants is written and directed by Matt McClung (The Mad Whale). The cast also features Todd Robert Anderson (You're the Worst), Ana Auther (Goats), Kevin Scott Allen (American Primeval) and Kevin Nealon (Saturday Night Live). In an official statement, McClung dived a little bit into the themes of his movie and shared his excitement with the release. He said:

“Our film deals with a wide range of subject matter — fear, guilt, faith, relationships — that we’re hoping will make it resonate beyond its initial premise. But above all, this is a spooky movie to watch on a rainy night. We are excited to share it with the world.”

With its peculiar release date, Gravitas Ventures announced that they want Inhabitants to "be the perfect escape from the traditional Valentine’s Day romance.” Inhabitants is set to premiere on Digital and on Demand on February 14. You can check out the trailer above.
Synopsis: 23-year-old Olivia Burton defies her family and moves to California with her 24-year-old boyfriend, Francis Morales. Their new life is quickly overshadowed by the disapproval of Francis’s devout Catholic mother, Lillian, who bombards them with violent, scripture-laden postcards. Despite the tension, the couple clings to their happiness, but it unravels after a freak accident leaves Francis both physically scarred and mentally shattered. Plagued by night terrors, he whispers to an unseen figure and roams the house in eerie, trance-like states. Olivia is disturbed by his behavior and grows suspicious that he is hiding something. Her search for answers uncovers a terrifying truth: they are being haunted by the vengeful spirit of Francis’s childhood youth minister. Consumed by wrath, this malevolent entity seeks to punish them for their perceived sins and destroy their lives.

Directed by: Matt McClung

Written by: Matt McClung

Starring: Anna Jacoby-Heron, Josh Rivera, Kevin Nealon

Genre: Horror

Category: Supernatural

Country: United States

Language: English

Main Cast:

Ana Auther
Anna Jacoby-Heron
Christine Kellogg-Darrin
Josh Rivera
Karen Lew
Katie McClung
Katie Waldron
Kevin Nealon
Kevin Scott Allen
Manny Casimir
Monisha Dadlani
Peyton Fleming
Rob Waller
Sean Heyman
Todd Robert Anderson
Production:

Genesius
Brick Lane Entertainment
Distribution:

Gravitas Ventures
Release Date:

February 14, 2025
Official Trailer:
The Inhabitant

Theatrical Release Poster
Directed by Jerren Lauder
Written by Kevin Bachar
Produced by
Leone Marucci
Petr Jakl
Starring
Odessa A'zion
Leslie Bibb
Dermot Mulroney
Cinematography Brian Sowell
Edited by
Mikhail Aranyshev
Leone Marucci
Music by Sanford Parker
Production
companies
Steelyard Pictures
R. U. Robot Studios
Distributed by
Lionsgate
Gravitas Ventures
Release date
October 7, 2022
Country United States
Language English
The Inhabitant is a 2022 American horror-thriller film directed by Jerren Lauder, written by Kevin Bachar and starring Odessa A'zion, Leslie Bibb and Dermot Mulroney.[1][2]

The Inhabitant follows a teenage girl who fears that she may be behind a series of gruesome murders in her town, particularly as she is a descendant of Lizzie Borden.

Plot
The film centers on Tara, a teenage girl who believes that her family is the target of a horrific curse that started with their ancestor, the notorious Lizzie Borden. Those suffering from the curse experience nightmares, murderous impulses, and visions of Lizzie, who urges them to commit murder. Fearful and depressed, Tara's only solace is her hobby of redesigning vintage clothing, which her mother Emily sells for her online.

When several townspeople are discovered murdered, the police are quick to suspect Tara; as all of the victims had issues with her, and the murderer was seen wearing one of Tara's dresses. Seeking answers, Tara goes to visit her aunt Diane, who was institutionalized for the murder of her infant child. During the meeting Diane claims that Emily experienced the same curse, implying that Emily may be the murderer.

Left with more questions than answers, Tara decides to visit Borden House with her boyfriend Carl. While at the house Tara learns that Lizzie was an excellent seamstress, causing her to wonder if the dresses are a trigger. Intrigued, Tara sends Suzy to her house to fetch some dresses. When the girl does not return or respond to calls, Tara and Carl travel to Tara's home, where she learns that her aunt has escaped from the mental institution. She also learns that her mother is the true killer and that Emily had also killed Diane's baby, as she believed it to be the product of incest between Diane and their father. In a psychotic rage Emily sympathizes with Lizzie Borden, who she believes killed her parents due to her mother's suspected infidelity. Emily then turns to slaughter Tara, but before she can do so, Emily is shot down by the police, as Tara's brother Caleb had called for help. The film ends with one of Tara's brothers talking to the spirit of Lizzie Borden, implying that he is a victim of the same curse.

Cast
Odessa A'zion as Tara Haldon
Leslie Bibb as Emily Haldon
Dermot Mulroney as Ben Haldon
Lizze Broadway as Suzy Beemer
Kenneisha Thompson as Detective Childs
Todd Jenkins as Mikhail Loeb
Production
Producer Leone Marucci first optioned the script in 2019; Dermot Mulroney and Lizze Broadway were named as two of the film's stars.[3] The film was one of several impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, as it experienced a short delay in filming. During this time the script was reworked so that The Inhabitant could be filmed with a smaller cast and in a single location.[4]

Filming
Principal photography for The Inhabitant took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the surrounding areas, including Broken Arrow in November 2020.[5] Production took place over a month with down time due to a COVID situation. Much of the shooting was at night working on practical sets in existing homes.[6]

Release
The Inhabitant was given a limited theatrical release on October 7, 2020, alongside a release on VOD.[7]

The film received a home video release on Blu-Ray on November 15, 2022. The Blu-Ray featured a behind the scenes featurette and a commentary track by the writer, Kevin Bachar, and producer, Leone Marucci.[8]

Reception
The Inhabitant holds a rating of 71% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 7 reviews.[9] Common elements of praise center on its tension, characters, and cinematography, with Easy Reader's Neely Swanson writing that "the writing, directing, production values, and acting are all first rate."[10][11]

Reviewers for Common Sense Media and In Review Online were more critical,[12] with Common Sense Media's Jeffrey Anderson praising the characters while also writing that "It's too bad the movie springs a dull, poorly played whodunit on viewers in the end, as well as a race against time to save the day."[13]

References
Grobar, Matt (2022-08-30). "Gravitas Ventures Takes North America On Horror 'The Inhabitant' Starring Odessa A'zion, Leslie Bibb, Dermot Mulroney & Lizze Broadway". Deadline. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
Prange, Stephanie (2022-08-31). "Gravitas Ventures Nabs North American Rights to Horror Film 'The Inhabitant'". Media Play News. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
Hamman, Cody (2020-12-07). "Lizzie Borden-based film The Inhabitant to star Dermot Mulroney, Leslie Bibb". JoBlo. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
"Dermot Mulroney to star in The Inhabitant | Movie News". Landmark Cinemas. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
Vejvoda, Jim (2022-05-24). "The Inhabitant: Exclusive Trailer Debut for New Horror-Thriller". IGN. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
Write On with 'The Inhabitant' Writer Kevin Bachar, retrieved 2023-03-22
Squires, John (2022-08-30). "'The Inhabitant' – Odessa A'zion Horror Movie Coming to 100 Theaters This October". Bloody Disgusting!. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
The Inhabitant Blu-ray, retrieved 2023-03-22
"The Inhabitant - Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
""The Inhabitant" - Legendary [MOVIE REVIEW]". Easy Reader News. 2022-10-04. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
"'Tár': 'Unwatchable masterpiece' feels like a documentary, says critic". KCRW. 6 October 2022. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
Gorham, Luke (2022-11-01). "The Inhabitant — Jerren Lauder". In Review Online. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
"The Inhabitant Movie Review | Common Sense Media". www.commonsensemedia.org. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
External links
Official Website
Official Website
Official Website
The Inhabitant at IMDb
Categories: 2022 filmsCultural depictions of Lizzie BordenAmerican horror thriller films
Academy Awards
Current: 97th Academy Awards

The Oscars logo
Awarded for Excellence in the film industry
Country United States
Presented by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
First awarded May 16, 1929; 95 years ago
Website oscars.org/oscars

The Oscar statuette
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in the film industry.[1][2] They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements as assessed by the Academy's voting membership.[3] The Oscars are widely considered to be the most prestigious awards in the film industry.[4]

The major award categories, known as the Academy Awards of Merit,[5] are presented during a live-televised Hollywood ceremony in February or March. It is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony.[1] The 1st Academy Awards were held in 1929.[6] The second ceremony, in 1930, was the first one broadcast by radio. The 1953 ceremony was the first one televised.[1] It is the oldest of the four major annual American entertainment awards. Its counterparts—the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music—are modeled after the Academy Awards.[7] The Oscar statuette depicts a knight, rendered in the Art Deco style.[8]

Most recent Academy Award winners
← 2022 Best in films in 2023 2024 →

Award Best Actor Best Actress
Winner Cillian Murphy
(Oppenheimer) Emma Stone
(Poor Things)

Award Best Supporting Actor Best Supporting Actress
Winner Robert Downey Jr.
(Oppenheimer) Da'Vine Joy Randolph
(The Holdovers)

Award Best Director Best Original Screenplay
Winner Christopher Nolan
(Oppenheimer) Justine Triet and Arthur Harari
(Anatomy of a Fall)
Previous Best Picture
Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Picture
Oppenheimer

History
The first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16, 1929, at a private dinner function at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, with an audience of about 270 people.[9]

The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel.[10][1] The cost of guest tickets for that night's ceremony was $5 (equivalent to $89 in 2023). Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors, and other participants in the film-making industry of the time, for their works during the 1927–28 period. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes.

For this first ceremony, winners were announced to the media three months earlier.[11] For the second ceremony in 1930, and the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11:00 pm on the night of the awards.[1] In 1940, the Los Angeles Times announced the winners before the ceremony began. As a result, in 1941 the Academy started using a sealed envelope to reveal the names of the winners.[1]

The term "Oscar" is a registered trademark of the AMPAS.

Milestones
The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. As he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, the Academy agreed to give him the prize early, making him the first Academy Award recipient. For the first Awards, winners were recognized for multiple films during the qualifying period; Jannings received the award for two movies in which he starred , and Janet Gaynor won the first Best Actress award for performances in three films. Beginning with the second ceremony, performers received separate nominations for individual films; no performer has received multiple nominations in the same category since the 3rd Academy Awards.

For the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period ran from August 1 to July 31. The 6th Academy Awards' eligibility ran from August 1, 1932, to December 31, 1933, and as of the 7th Academy Awards, subsequent eligibility periods have matched the calendar year (with the exception of the 93rd Academy Awards, which, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, extended the eligibility period to February 28, 2021).[1]

Best Foreign Language Film, now known as Best International Feature Film, was introduced at the 20th Academy Awards as a special award, and became a competitive category at the 29th Academy Awards.

The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.[12]

Since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies, except for 2021, have ended with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Traditionally, the previous year's winners for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor present the awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively, while the previous year's winners for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress present the awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. In recent years, this has been replaced by each acting award being introduced by five previous winners, each of whom introduces one of the nominated performances.

On February 9, 2020, Parasite became the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards.[13]

The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2020 and early 2021, was held on April 25, 2021, after it was postponed from its original February 28, 2021, schedule due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema. As with the two previous ceremonies, there was no host. The ceremony was broadcast on ABC. It took place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California for the 19th consecutive year, along with satellite location taking place at the Union Station also in Los Angeles.[14] Because of the virus impact on films and TV industries, Academy president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson announced that for the 2021 Oscar Ceremony, streaming movies with a previously planned theatrical release were eligible.[15] The theatrical requirement was reinstated starting with the 95th Academy Awards.[16]

Oscar statuette
Overview
The Oscar statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit,[17] is given to winners of each year's awards. Made of gold-plated bronze on a black metal base, it is 13.5 in (34.3 cm) tall, weighs 8.5 lb (3.9 kg) and depicts a knight rendered in Art Deco style holding a sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes. The five spokes represent the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers, and Technicians.[18]

Plaster War-time Oscar plaque (1943), State Central Museum of Cinema, Moscow (ru)
Sculptor George Stanley, who also did the Muse Fountain at the Hollywood Bowl, sculpted Cedric Gibbons' design. The statuettes presented at the initial ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze. Within a few years, the bronze was abandoned in favor of Britannia metal, a pewter-like alloy which is then plated in copper, nickel silver, and finally, 24-karat gold.[17] Due to a metal shortage during World War II, Oscars were made of painted plaster for three years. Following the war, the Academy invited recipients to redeem the plaster figures for gold-plated metal ones.[19]

The only addition to the Oscar since it was created is a minor streamlining of the base. The original Oscar mold was cast in 1928 at the C.W. Shumway & Sons Foundry in Batavia, Illinois, which also contributed to casting the molds for the Vince Lombardi Trophy and Emmy Award statuettes. During the 1970s, the Oscar statues were cast in Crystal Lake, Illinois. [20] From 1983 to 2015,[21] approximately 50 Oscars in a tin alloy with gold plating were made each year in Chicago by Illinois manufacturer R.S. Owens & Company.[22] It would take between three and four weeks to manufacture 50 statuettes.[23]

In 2016, the Academy returned to bronze as the core metal of the statuettes, handing manufacturing duties to Walden, New York-based Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry, now owned and operated by UAP Urban Art Projects.[24][25] While based on a digital scan of an original 1929 Oscar, the statuettes retain their modern-era dimensions and black pedestal. Cast in liquid bronze from 3D-printed ceramic molds and polished, they are then electroplated in 24-karat gold by Brooklyn, New York-based Epner Technology. The time required to produce 50 such statuettes is roughly three months.[26] R.S. Owens is expected to continue producing other awards for the Academy, and service existing Oscars that need replating.[27]

Naming
The origin of the nickname of the trophy has been disputed, as multiple people have taken credit for naming the trophy "Oscar".

Margaret Herrick, librarian and president of the Academy, may have said she named it after her supposed uncle Oscar in 1921.[a] The only corroboration was a 1938 clipping from the Los Angeles Examiner, in which Herrick told a story of her and her husband joking with each other using the phrase, "How's your uncle Oscar".[28]

Bette Davis, in her 1962 autobiography, claimed she named it in 1936 after her first husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson, of whom the statue's rear end reminded her.[28][29] But the term had been in use at least two years before. In a 1974 biography written by Whitney Stine with commentary from Davis, Davis wrote "I relinquish once and for all any claim that I was the one—so, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the honor is all yours".[28][30]

Columnist Sidney Skolsky wrote in his 1970 memoir that he came up with the term in 1934 under pressure for a deadline, mocking Vaudeville comedians who asked "Will you have a cigar, Oscar?" The Academy credits Skolsky with "the first confirmed newspaper reference" to Oscar in his column on March 16, 1934, which was written about that year's 6th Academy Awards.[31] But in the newspaper clipping that Skolsky referred to, he wrote that these statues are called 'Oscars', meaning that the name was already in use.[28]

Bruce Davis, a former executive director of the Academy, credited Eleanore Lilleberg, a secretary at the Academy when the award was first introduced, for the nickname. She had overseen the pre-ceremony handling of the awards. Davis credits Lilleberg because he found in an autobiography of Einar Lilleberg, Eleanore's brother, that Einar had referenced a Norwegian army veteran named Oscar that the two knew in Chicago, whom Einar described as having always "stood straight and tall".[28][32] He asserts credit "should almost certainly belong to" Lilleberg.[32]

In 2021, Brazilian researcher Dr. Waldemar Dalenogare Neto found the probable first public mention of the name "Oscar", in journalist Relman Morin's "Cinematters" column in the Los Angeles Evening Post-Record on December 5, 1933. Since the awards didn't take place that year, he said: "What's happened to the annual Academy banquet? As a rule, the banquet and the awarding of "Oscar", the bronze statuette given for best performances, is all over long before this". This information changes the version of Sidney Skolsky as the first to publicly mention the name.[33]

Engraving
To prevent information identifying the Oscar winners from leaking ahead of the ceremony, Oscar statuettes presented at the ceremony have blank baseplates. Until 2010, winners returned their statuettes to the Academy and had to wait several weeks to have their names inscribed on their respective Oscars. Since 2010, winners have had the option of having engraved nameplates applied to their statuettes at an inscription-processing station at the Governor's Ball, a party held immediately after the Oscar ceremony. The R.S. Owens company has engraved nameplates made before the ceremony, bearing the name of every potential winner. The nameplates for the non-winning nominees are later recycled.[34][35]

Ownership of Oscar statuettes
Prior to 1950, Oscar statuettes were, and remain, the property of the recipient.[36] Since then the statuettes have been legally encumbered by the requirement that the statuette be first offered for sale back to the Academy for $1. If a winner refuses to agree to this stipulation, then the Academy keeps the statuette. Academy Awards predating this agreement have been sold in public auctions and private deals for six-figure sums.[37]

In 1989, Michael Todd's grandson tried to sell Todd's Best Picture Oscar for his 1956 production of Around the World in 80 Days to a movie prop collector. The Academy earned enforcement of its statuette contract by gaining a permanent injunction against the sale.

In 1992, Harold Russell consigned his 1946 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for The Best Years of Our Lives to auction to raise money for his wife's medical expenses. Though his decision caused controversy, the first Oscar ever to be sold passed to a private collector on August 6, 1992, for $60,500 (equivalent to $131,358 in 2023). Russell defended his action, saying, "I don't know why anybody would be critical. My wife's health is much more important than sentimental reasons. The movie will be here, even if Oscar isn't".[38]

In December 2011, Orson Welles' 1941 Oscar for Citizen Kane (Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay) was put up for auction, after his heirs won a 2004 court decision contending that Welles did not sign any agreement to return the statue to the Academy.[39] On December 20, 2011, it sold in an online auction for $861,542 (equivalent to $1,166,905 in 2023).[40]

Some buyers have subsequently returned the statuettes to the Academy, which keeps them in its treasury.[37]

Other awards presented by the Academy
In addition to the Academy Award of Merit (Oscar award), there are nine honorary (non-competitive) awards presented by the Academy from time to time (except for the Academy Honorary Award, the Technical Achievement Award, and the Student Academy Awards, which are presented annually):[41]

Governors Awards:
The Academy Honorary Award (annual) (which may or may not be in the form of an Oscar statuette);
The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (since 1938) (in the form of a bust of Thalberg);
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (since 1957) (in the form of an Oscar statuette);
The Academy Scientific and Technical Awards:
Academy Award of Merit (non-competitive) (in the form of an Oscar statuette);
Scientific and Engineering Award (in the form of a bronze tablet);
Technical Achievement Award (annual) (in the form of a certificate);
The John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation (since 1978) (in the form of a medal);
The Gordon E. Sawyer Award (since 1982); and
The Academy Student Academy Awards (annual).
The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting.

Nomination
From 2004 to 2020, the Academy Award nomination results were announced to the public in mid-January. Prior to that, the results were announced in early February. In 2021, the nominees were announced in March. In 2022, the nominees were announced in early February for the first time since 2003.

Voters
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), a professional honorary organization, is composed of 9,905 voting members as of 2024.[42][43]

Academy membership is divided into different branches, with each representing a different discipline in film production. As of 2024, actors constitute the largest bloc, numbering 1,258 (12.7% of the voting body).[43] Votes have been certified by the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, and its predecessor Price Waterhouse, since the 7th Academy Awards in 1935.[44][45][46] In May 2011, the Academy sent a letter advising its then-6,000 or so voting members that an online system for Oscar voting would be implemented in 2013, replacing mailed paper ballots.[47]

All AMPAS members must be invited to join by the Board of Governors, on behalf of Academy Branch Executive Committees. Membership eligibility may be achieved by a competitive nomination, or an existing member may submit a name, based on other significant contributions to the field of motion pictures.

New membership proposals are considered annually. The Academy does not publicly disclose its membership, although as recently as 2007 press releases have announced the names of those who have been invited to join.[48]

In 2012, the results of a study conducted by the Los Angeles Times were published describing the demographic breakdown of approximately 88% of AMPAS' voting membership. Of the 5,100+ active voters confirmed, 94% were Caucasian, 77% were male, and 54% were found to be over the age of 60. 33% of voting members are former nominees (14%) and winners (19%).[49] In 2016, the Academy launched an initiative to expand its membership and increase diversity. In 2024, voting membership stood at 9,905.[43]

Rules
According to Rules 2 and 3 of the official Academy Awards Rules, a film must open in the previous calendar year, from midnight at the start of January 1 to midnight at the end of December 31, in Los Angeles County, California, and play for seven consecutive days, to qualify, except for the Best International Feature Film, Best Documentary Feature, and awards in short film categories. The film must be shown at least three times on each day of its qualifying run, with at least one of the daily showings starting between 6 pm and 10 pm local time.[50][51]

For example, the 2009 Best Picture winner, The Hurt Locker, was originally first released in 2008, but did not qualify for the 2008 awards, as it did not play its Oscar-qualifying run in Los Angeles until mid-2009, thus qualifying for the 2009 awards. Foreign films must include English subtitles. Each country can submit only one film for consideration in the International Feature Film category per year.[52]

Rule 2 states that a film must be feature-length, defined as a minimum of 40 minutes, except for short-subject awards. It must exist either on a 35 mm or 70 mm film print, or in 24 frame/s or 48 frame/s progressive scan digital cinema format, with a minimum projector resolution of 2,048 by 1,080 pixels.[53] Since the 90th Academy Awards, presented in 2018, multi-part and limited series have been ineligible for the Best Documentary Feature award. This followed the win of O.J.: Made in America, an eight-hour presentation that was screened in a limited release before being broadcast in five parts on ABC and ESPN, in that category in 2017. The Academy's announcement of the new rule made no direct mention of that film.[32]

The Best International Feature Film award does not require a U.S. release. It requires the film to be submitted as its country's official selection.

The Best Documentary Feature award requires either week-long releases in both Los Angeles County and any of the five boroughs of New York City during the previous calendar year,[b] or a qualifying award at a competitive film festival from the Documentary Feature Qualifying Festival list, regardless of any public exhibition or distribution, or submission in the International Feature Film category as its country's official selection. The qualifying theatrical runs must meet the same requirements as those for non-documentary films regarding numbers and times of screenings. A film must have been reviewed by a critic from The New York Times, Time Out New York, the Los Angeles Times, or LA Weekly.[55]

Producers must submit an Official Screen Credits online form before the deadline. If it is not submitted by the defined deadline, the film will be ineligible for Academy Awards in any year. The form includes the production credits for all related categories.

Awards in short film categories (Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Animated Short Film, and Best Live Action Short Film) have different eligibility rules from most other competitive awards. First, the qualifying period for release does not coincide with a calendar year, instead covering one year starting on October 1, and ending on September 30 of the calendar year before the ceremony. Second, there are multiple methods of qualification. The main method is a week-long theatrical release in either New York City or Los Angeles County during the eligibility period. Films also can qualify by winning specified awards at one of several competitive film festivals designated by the Academy, also without regard to prior public distribution.[55][56]

A film that is selected as a gold, silver, or bronze medal winner in an appropriate category of the immediately previous Student Academy Awards is also eligible (Documentary category for that award, and Animation, Narrative, Alternative, or International for the other awards). The requirements for the qualifying theatrical run are also different from those for other awards. Only one screening per day is required. For the Documentary award, the screening must start between noon and 10 pm local time. For other awards, no specific start time is required, but the film must appear in regular theater listings with dates and screening times.[55][56]

In late December, ballots and lists of eligible films are sent to the membership. For most categories, members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees only in their respective categories, i.e. only directors vote for directors, writers for writers, actors for actors, etc. In the special case of Best Picture, all voting members are eligible to select the nominees. A number of branches are only eligible to vote in Best Picture during nomination voting; this includes a producers' branch, as Best Picture is awarded to a film's producer(s), and other branches which have no corresponding award.[43] In all major categories, a variant of the single transferable vote is used, with each member casting a ballot with up to five nominees (ten for Best Picture) ranked preferentially.[57][58][59] In certain categories, including International Feature Film, Documentary and Animated Feature, nominees are selected by special screening committees made up of members from all branches.

In most categories, the winner is selected from among the nominees by plurality voting of all members.[57][59] Since 2009, the Best Picture winner has been chosen by instant runoff voting.[59][60] Since 2013, re-weighted range voting has been used to select the nominees for the Best Visual Effects.[61]

Film companies will spend as much as several million dollars on marketing to awards voters for a movie in the running for Best Picture, in attempts to improve chances of receiving Oscars and other movie awards conferred in Oscar season. The Academy enforces rules to limit overt campaigning by its members to try to eliminate excesses and prevent the process from becoming undignified. It has an awards czar on staff who advises members on allowed practices and levies penalties on offenders.[62] For example, a producer of the 2009 Best Picture nominee The Hurt Locker was disqualified as a producer in the category when he contacted associates urging them to vote for his film and not another that was seen as the front-runner. The Hurt Locker eventually won.

Academy Screening Room
The Academy Screening Room or Academy Digital Screening Room is a secure streaming platform which allows voting members of the Academy to view all eligible films (except, initially, those in the International category) in one place. It was introduced in 2019, for the 2020 Oscars. DVD screeners and Academy in-person screenings were still provided. For films to be included on the platform, the North American distributor must pay $12,500, including a watermarking fee, and a digital copy of the film to be prepared for streaming by the Academy. The platform can be accessed via Apple TV and Roku players.[63][64] The watermarking process involved several video security firms, creating a forensic watermark and restricting the ability to take screenshots or screen recordings.[65]

In 2021, for the 2022 Oscars, the Academy banned all physical screeners and in-person screenings, restricting official membership viewing to the Academy Screening Room. Films eligible in the Documentary and International categories were made available in different sections of the platform. Distributors can also pay an extra fee to add video featurettes to promote their films on the platform.[66] The in-person screenings were said to be cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[67] Eligible films do not have to be added to the platform, but the Academy advertises them to voting members when they are.[66]

Awards ceremonies
See also: List of Academy Awards ceremonies
Telecast

The 31st Academy Awards, Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 1959

The 81st Academy Awards, Dolby Theatre, 2009

The 95th Academy Awards, Dolby Theatre, 2023
The major awards are presented at a live televised ceremony, commonly in late February or early March following the relevant calendar year, and six weeks after the announcement of the nominees. It is the culmination of the film awards season, which usually begins during November or December of the previous year. This is an elaborate extravaganza, with the invited guests walking up the red carpet in the creations of the most prominent fashion designers of the day. Black tie dress is the most common outfit for men. Fashion may dictate not wearing a bow-tie, and musical performers are sometimes not required to adhere to this. The artists who recorded the nominees for Best Original Song quite often perform those songs live at the awards ceremony, and the fact that they are performing is often used to promote the television broadcast.

The Academy Awards is the world's longest-running awards show televised live from the United States to all time zones in North America and worldwide, and gathers billions of viewers elsewhere throughout the world.[68] The Oscars were first televised in 1953 by NBC, which continued to broadcast the event until 1960, when ABC took over, televising the festivities, including the first color broadcast of the event in 1966, to 1970. NBC regained the rights for five years (1971–75), then ABC resumed broadcast duties in 1976 and its current contract with the Academy runs through 2028.[69]

The Academy has produced condensed versions of the ceremony for broadcast in international markets, especially those outside of the Americas, in more desirable local timeslots. The ceremony was broadcast live internationally for the first time via satellite since 1970, but only two South American countries, Chile and Brazil, purchased the rights to air the broadcast. By that time, the television rights to the Academy Awards had been sold in 50 countries. In 1980, the rights were sold to 60 countries, and by 1984, the television rights to the Academy Awards were licensed in 76 countries.

In 2004, the ceremonies were moved up from late March/early April to late February, to help disrupt and shorten the intense lobbying and ad campaigns associated with Oscar season in the film industry. Another reason was because of the growing television ratings success coinciding with the NCAA division I men's basketball tournament, which would cut into the Academy Awards audience. In 1976 and 1977, ABC's regained Oscars were moved from Tuesday to Monday and went directly opposite the national championship game on NBC. The earlier date is also to the advantage of ABC, as it now usually occurs during the highly profitable and important February sweeps period.[70]

Some years, the ceremony is moved into the first Sunday of March to avoid a clash with the Winter Olympic Games. Another reason for the move to late February and early March is to avoid the awards ceremony occurring so close to the religious holidays of Passover and Easter, which for decades had been a grievance from members and the general public.[70] Advertising is somewhat restricted, as traditionally no movie studios or competitors of official Academy Award sponsors may advertise during the telecast. As of 2020, the production of the Academy Awards telecast held the distinction of winning one the highest number of Emmys in history, with 54 wins and 280 nominations overall.[71]

After many years of being held on Mondays at 6:00 p.m. Pacific/9:00 pm Eastern, since the 1999 ceremonies, it was moved to Sundays at 5:30 pm PT/8:30 pm ET.[72] The reasons given for the move were that more viewers would tune in on Sundays, that Los Angeles rush-hour traffic jams could be avoided, and an earlier start time would allow viewers on the East Coast to go to bed earlier.[73] For many years the film industry opposed a Sunday broadcast because it would cut into the weekend box office.[74]

In 2010, the Academy contemplated moving the ceremony even further back into January, citing television viewers' fatigue with the film industry's long awards season. However, such an accelerated schedule would dramatically decrease the voting period for its members, to the point where some voters would only have time to view the contending films streamed on their computers, as opposed to traditionally receiving the films and ballots in the mail. Furthermore, a January ceremony on Sunday would clash with National Football League (NFL) playoff games.[75] In 2018, the Academy announced that the ceremony would be moved from late February to mid-February beginning with the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020.[76] In 2024, the ceremony was moved to an even earlier start time of 4:00 pm PT/7:00 p.m. ET, the apparent impetus being the ability for ABC to air a half-hour of primetime programming as a lead-out program at 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET.[77]

Originally scheduled for April 8, 1968, the 40th Academy Awards ceremony was postponed for two days, because of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On March 30, 1981, the 53rd Academy Awards was postponed for one day, after the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan and others in Washington, D.C.[78]

In 1993, an In Memoriam segment was introduced,[79] honoring those who had made a significant contribution to cinema who had died in the preceding 12 months, a selection compiled by a small committee of Academy members.[80] This segment has drawn criticism over the years for the omission of some names. Criticism was also levied for many years regarding another aspect, with the segment having a "popularity contest" feel as the audience varied their applause to those who had died by the subject's cultural impact. The applause has since been muted during the telecast, and the audience is discouraged from clapping during the segment and giving silent reflection instead. This segment was later followed by a commercial break.

In terms of broadcast length, the ceremony generally averages three and a half hours. The first Oscars, in 1929, lasted 15 minutes. At the other end of the spectrum, the 2002 ceremony lasted four hours and twenty-three minutes.[81][82] In 2010, the organizers of the Academy Awards announced winners' acceptance speeches must not run past 45 seconds. This, according to organizer Bill Mechanic, was to ensure the elimination of what he termed "the single most hated thing on the show"—overly long and embarrassing displays of emotion.[83] In 2016, in a further effort to streamline speeches, winners' dedications were displayed on an on-screen ticker.[84]

During the 2018 ceremony, host Jimmy Kimmel acknowledged how long the ceremony had become, by announcing that he would give a brand-new jet ski to whoever gave the shortest speech of the night, a reward won by Mark Bridges when accepting his Best Costume Design award for Phantom Thread.[85] The Wall Street Journal analyzed the average minutes spent across the 2014–2018 telecasts as follows: 14 on song performances; 25 on the hosts' speeches; 38 on prerecorded clips; and 78 on the awards themselves, broken into 24 on the introduction and announcement, 24 on winners walking to the stage, and 30 on their acceptance speeches.[86]

Although still dominant in ratings, the viewership of the Academy Awards has steadily dropped. The 88th Academy Awards were the lowest-rated in the past eight years (although with increases in male and 18–49 viewership), while the show itself also faced mixed reception. Following the show, Variety reported that ABC was, in negotiating an extension to its contract to broadcast the Oscars, seeking to have more creative control over the broadcast itself. Currently and nominally, AMPAS is responsible for most aspects of the telecast, including the choice of production staff and hosting, although ABC is allowed to have some input on their decisions.[87] In August 2016, AMPAS extended its contract with ABC to 2028: the contract neither contains any notable changes nor gives ABC any further creative control over the telecast.[88]

TV ratings
Historically, the telecast's viewership is higher when box-office hits are favored to win the Best Picture award. More than 57.25 million viewers tuned to the telecast for the 70th Academy Awards in 1998, the year of Titanic, which generated a box office haul during its initial 1997–98 run of $600.8 million in the US, a box-office record that would remain unsurpassed for years.[89] The 76th Academy Awards ceremony, in which The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (pre-telecast box office earnings of $368 million) received 11 Awards, including Best Picture, drew 43.56 million viewers.[90] The most-watched ceremony based on Nielsen ratings to date, was the 42nd Academy Awards (Best Picture Midnight Cowboy), which drew a 43.4% household rating on April 7, 1970.[91] Hoping to reinvigorate the pre-show and ratings, the 2023 Oscars organizers hired members of the Met Gala creative team.[92]

By contrast, ceremonies honoring films that have not performed well at the box office tend to show weaker ratings, despite how much critical acclaim those films have received. The 78th Academy Awards, which awarded a low-budget independent film (Crash with a pre-Oscar gross of $53.4 million) generated an audience of 38.64 million with a household rating of 22.91%.[93] In 2008, the 80th Academy Awards telecast was watched by 31.76 million viewers on average with an 18.66% household rating, the lowest-rated and least-watched ceremony at the time, in spite of celebrating 80 years of the Academy Awards.[94] The Best Picture winner of that particular ceremony was another independent film (this time, the Coen brothers's No Country for Old Men).

Academy Awards Viewership 1974–2023, in millions[95]
Whereas the 92nd Academy Awards drew an average of 23.6 million viewers,[96] the 93rd Academy Awards drew an even lower viewership of 10.4 million,[97] the lowest viewership recorded by Nielsen since it started recording audience totals in 1974.[98] The 94th and 95th editions drew 16.6 and 18.7 million viewers, respectively, still below the audience of the 92nd edition.[99][100]

Archive
The Academy Film Archive holds copies of every Academy Awards ceremony since the 1949 Oscars, as well as material on many prior ceremonies, along with ancillary material related to more recent shows. Copies are held in a variety of film, video and digital formats.[101]

Venues
In 1929, the first Academy Awards were presented at a banquet dinner at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. From 1930 to 1943, the ceremony alternated between two venues: the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard and the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood then hosted the awards from 1944 to 1946, followed by the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles from 1947 to 1948. The 21st Academy Awards in 1949 were held at the Academy Award Theatre at what had been the Academy's headquarters on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood.[102]

From 1950 to 1960, the awards were presented at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre. With the advent of television, the awards from 1953 to 1957 took place simultaneously in Hollywood and New York, first at the NBC International Theatre (1953) and then at the NBC Century Theatre, after which the ceremony took place solely in Los Angeles. In 1961, the Oscars moved to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. In 1969, the Academy moved the ceremonies back to Downtown Los Angeles, to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Los Angeles County Music Center. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the ceremony returned to the Shrine Auditorium.

In 2002, Hollywood's Dolby Theatre, previously known as the Kodak Theatre, became the presentation's current venue.[103]

Categories
Current categories
List of current Awards of Merit categories by year introduced, sortable by category
Year introduced Category
1927/28 Best Picture
1927/28 Best Director
1927/28 Best Actor
1927/28 Best Actress
1927/28 Best Cinematography
1927/28 Best Production Design
1927/28 Best Adapted Screenplay
1929/30 Best Sound
1931/32 Best Animated Short Film
1931/32 Best Live Action Short Film
1934 Best Film Editing
1934 Best Original Score
1934 Best Original Song
1936 Best Supporting Actor
1936 Best Supporting Actress
1939 Best Visual Effects
1940 Best Original Screenplay
1941 Best Documentary Short Film
1943 Best Documentary Feature Film
1947 Best International Feature Film
1948 Best Costume Design
1981 Best Makeup and Hairstyling
2001 Best Animated Feature Film
2025 Best Casting[104]
In the first year of the awards, the Best Directing award was split into two categories, Drama and Comedy. At times, the Best Original Score award has also been split into separate categories, Drama and Comedy/Musical. From the 1930s to the 1960s, the Art Direction (now Production Design), Cinematography, and Costume Design awards were split into two categories (black-and-white films and color films). Prior to 2012, the Production Design award was called Art Direction, while the Makeup and Hairstyling award was called Makeup.

In August 2018, the Academy announced that several categories would not be televised live, but recorded during commercial breaks and aired later in the ceremony.[105] Following dissent from Academy members, they announced that they would air all 24 categories live. This followed several proposals, among them, the introduction of a Popular Film category, that the Academy had announced but did not implement.[106]

Discontinued categories
List of discontinued Awards of Merit categories by year introduced, sortable by category
Year introduced Year discontinued Category
1927/28 1927/28 Best Director, Comedy Picture
1927/28 1927/28 Best Director, Dramatic Picture
1927/28 1927/28 Best Engineering Effects
1927/28 1927/28 Best Title Writing
1927/28 1927/28 Best Unique and Artistic Production
1927/28 1956 Best Original Story
1931/32 1935 Best Short Subject – Comedy
1931/32 1935 Best Short Subject – Novelty
1932/33 1937 Best Assistant Director
1935 1937 Best Dance Direction
1936 1956 Best Short Subject – 1 Reel
1936 1956 Best Short Subject – 2 Reel
1936 1937 Best Short Subject – Color
1963 2019 Best Sound Editing
1995 1998 Best Original Musical or Comedy Score
Proposed categories
The Board of Governors meets each year and considers new award categories. To date, the following categories have been proposed:

Best Casting: rejected in 1999;[107] will be implemented for the 2026 ceremony[104]
Best Popular Film: proposed in 2018 for presentation at the 2019 ceremony; postponed until the 2020 ceremony at the earliest (yet to be implemented)[108]
Best Stunt Coordination: rejected every year from 1991 to 2012[109][110][111][112][113]
Best Title Design: rejected in 1999[107]
Special categories
The Special Academy Awards are voted on by special committees, rather than by the Academy membership as a whole. They are not always presented on an annual basis.

Current special categories
Academy Honorary Award: since 1929
Academy Scientific and Technical Award (three different awards): since 1931
Gordon E. Sawyer Award: since 1981
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: since 1957
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award: since 1938
Academy Special Achievement Award: from 1972 to 1995, and again for 2017
Discontinued special categories
Academy Juvenile Award: 1934 to 1960
Criticism and controversies
Accusations of commercialism
Due to the positive exposure and prestige of the Academy Awards, many studios spend around 25 million dollars and hire publicists specifically to promote their films during what is typically called the "Oscar season".[114] This has generated accusations of the Academy Awards being influenced more by marketing and lobbying than by quality. William Friedkin, an Academy Award-winning film director and former producer of the ceremony, expressed this sentiment at a conference in New York in 2009, describing it as "the greatest promotion scheme that any industry ever devised for itself".[115]

Tim Dirks, editor of AMC's Filmsite, has written of the Academy Awards:

Unfortunately, the critical worth, artistic vision, cultural influence and innovative qualities of many films are not given the same voting weight. Especially since the 1980s, moneymaking "formula-made" blockbusters with glossy production values have often been crowd-pleasing titans (and Best Picture winners), but they haven't necessarily been great films with depth or critical acclaim by any measure.[116]

A recent technique that has been claimed to be used during the Oscar season is the whisper campaign. These campaigns are intended to spread negative perceptions of other movies nominated and are believed to be perpetrated by those who were involved in creating the movie. Examples of whisper campaigns include the allegations against Zero Dark Thirty suggesting that it justifies torture and the claim that Lincoln distorts history.[117]

Accusations of bias
Further information: Oscar bait
Typical criticism of the Academy Awards for Best Picture is that among the winners and nominees there is an over-representation of romantic historical epics, biographical dramas, romantic dramedies and family melodramas, most of which are released in the U.S. in the last three months of the calendar year. The Oscars have been infamously known for selecting specific genres of movies to be awarded. The term "Oscar bait" was coined to describe such movies. This has led, at times, to more specific criticisms that the Academy is disconnected from the audience, e.g., by favoring "Oscar bait" over audience favorites or favoring historical melodramas over critically acclaimed movies that depict current life issues.[118]

Despite the success of The Dark Knight, the film did not receive a Best Picture nomination at the 81st Academy Awards. This decision received substantial criticism and was described as a "snub" by many publications.[119][120][121] The backlash to the decision was such that, for the 82nd Academy Awards awards in 2010, the Academy increased the limit for Best Picture nominees from five to ten, a change known as "The Dark Knight Rule".[122][123][124][121]

Allegations of a lack of diversity
The Academy Awards have long received criticism over its lack of diversity among the nominees.[125][126][127] This criticism is based on the statistics from every Academy Awards since 1929, which show that only 6.4% of Academy Award nominees have been non-white and since 1991, 11.2% of nominees have been non-white, with the rate of winners being even more polarizing.[128] For a variety of reasons, including marketability and historical bans on interracial couples, a number of high-profile Oscars have been given to yellowface portrayals, as well as performances of Asian characters rewritten for white characters.[129][130] It took until 2023 for an Asian woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress, when Michelle Yeoh received the award for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once. The 88th awards ceremony became the target of a boycott, popularized on social media with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, based on activists' perception that its all-white acting nominee list reflected bias.[131] In response, the Academy initiated "historic" changes in membership by 2020.[132][133] Some media critics claim the Academy's efforts to address its purported racial, gender and national biases are merely distractions.[134][135][136][137] By contrast, the Golden Globe Awards already have multiple winners of Asian descent in leading actress categories.[138] Some question whether the Academy's definition of "merit" is just or empowering for non-Americans.[139]

The Academy's Representation and Inclusion Standards have been criticized for excluding Jews as a distinct underrepresented class.[140]

Miscategorization of actors
See also: Carol (film) § Oscar category
The Academy has no rules for how to categorize whether a performance is leading or supporting, and it is up to the discretion of the studios whether a given performance is submitted for either Best Actor/Actress or Best Supporting Actor/Actress. This has led to situations where a film has two or more co-leads, and one of these is submitted in a supporting category to avoid the two leads competing against each other, and to increase the film's chances of winning. This practice has been derisively called "category fraud".[141][142]

For example, Rooney Mara was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Carol (2015), despite her having a comparable amount of screentime to Cate Blanchett, who was nominated for Best Actress. Another example is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), where Brad Pitt was nominated for and won Best Supporting Actor, even though he played an equally important role to Best Actor nominee Leonardo DiCaprio. In both these cases, critics argued that The Weinstein Company, the studio behind the former film, had placed someone who was actually a leading actor or actress into the supporting categories to avoid them competing against their co-lead.[141][142]

Symbolism or sentimentalization
Acting prizes in certain years have been criticized for not recognizing superior performances so much as being awarded for personal popularity,[143] to make up for a "snub" for a work that proved in time to be more popular or renowned than the one awarded, or presented as a "career honor" to recognize a distinguished nominee's entire body of work.[144]

Recognition of streaming media film
Following the 91st Academy Awards in February 2019 in which the Netflix-broadcast film Roma had been nominated for ten awards including the Best Picture category, Steven Spielberg and other members of the Academy discussed changing the requirements through the Board of Governors for films as to exclude those from Netflix and other media streaming services. Spielberg had been concerned that Netflix as a movie production and distribution studio could spend much more than for typical Oscar-winning films and have much wider and earlier distribution than for other Best Picture-nominated films, while still being able to meet the minimal theatrical-run status to qualify for an Oscar.[145]

The United States Department of Justice, having heard of this potential rule change, wrote a letter to the Academy in March 2019, cautioning them that placing additional restrictions on films that originate from streaming media services without proper justification could raise anti-trust concerns against the Academy.[146] Following its April 2019 board meeting, the Academy Board of Governors agreed to retain the current rules that allow for streaming media films to be eligible for Oscars as long as they enjoy limited theatrical runs.[147]

2022 Chris Rock and Will Smith slapping incident
Main article: Chris Rock–Will Smith slapping incident
During the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, 2022, Chris Rock joked about Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head[148] with a G.I. Jane reference. Will Smith walked onstage and slapped Rock across the face, then returned to his seat and told Rock, twice, to "Keep my wife's name out [of] your fucking mouth!"[149][150][151] While later accepting the Best Actor award for King Richard, Smith apologized to the Academy and the other nominees, but not to Rock.[152][153][154] Rock decided not to press charges against Smith.[155]

On April 8, 2022, the Academy made an announcement via a letter sent by president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson informing the public that Will Smith had received a ten-year ban from attending the Oscars as a result of the incident.[156]

Refusals of the award
Some winners critical of the Academy Awards have boycotted the ceremonies and refused to accept their Oscars. The first to do so was screenwriter Dudley Nichols (Best Writing in 1935 for The Informer). Nichols boycotted the 8th Academy Awards ceremony because of conflicts between the Academy and the Writers' Guild.[157] Nichols eventually accepted the 1935 award three years later, at the 1938 ceremony. Nichols was nominated for three further Academy Awards during his career.

George C. Scott became the second person to refuse his award (Best Actor in 1970 for Patton) at the 43rd Academy Awards ceremony. Scott described it as a "meat parade", saying, "I don't want any part of it".[158][159][160]

The third person to refuse the award was Marlon Brando, who refused his award (Best Actor for 1972's The Godfather), citing the film industry&

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