Contrary to the Academy's pre-pandemic intention with Parasite's big night being the earliest Oscars of all time* (February 9th, 2020), Hollywood's High Holy Night has settled back into March as its sweet spot, when the bulk of ceremonies have been held throughout history. Forty-nine of the ninety-five ceremonies to date, or roughly 52% of them, have been held in March. In short, AMPAS is no longer trying to progressively shorten the season as had been their pre-COVID plan.
The 96th Oscars will be held on March 10th, 2024 to be exact. The press release and a bit more Oscar history are after the jump...
LOS ANGELES, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ABC today announced the 96th Oscars® will take place on Sunday, March 10, 2024. The show will air live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide from the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.
Academy key dates for the 2023 Oscar® season are as follows:
General entry categories submission deadline
Governors Awards
Preliminary voting begins 9 a.m. PT
Preliminary voting ends 5 p.m. PT
Oscar Shortlists Announcement
Eligibility period ends
Nominations voting begins 9 a.m. PT
Nominations voting ends 5 p.m. PT
Oscar Nominations Announcement
Oscar Nominees Luncheon
Finals voting begins 9 a.m. PT
Scientific and Technical Awards
Finals voting ends 5 p.m. PT
96th OscarsWednesday, November 15, 2023
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Thursday, December 14, 2023
Monday, December 18, 2023
Thursday, December 21, 2023
Sunday, December 31, 2023
Thursday, January 11, 2024
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Monday, February 12, 2024
Thursday, February 22, 2024
Friday, February 23, 2024
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Sunday, March 10, 2024
All dates for the 96th Academy Awards® are subject to change.
In short this is extremely similar dates to last season. The shortlists, in fact, are announced on the very same date as they were in 2022 (December 21st) and the nominations (January 23rd) are announced just one day earlier.
So it's 274 days until nominations and 321 days until the big night. Excited yet or do you need several more months to recover from last month?
As for March 10th, the date of next year's ceremony, only one previous Oscar ceremony has been held on that date. It was the 10th annual Academy Awards honoring the films of 1937. Biopic snoozer The Life of Emile Zola took the top prize on March 10th, 1938, while the previous year's best film (that'd be screwball classic The Awful Truth) had to settle for Best Director. We've talked about that year a few times, most notably in the Supporting Actress Smackdown.
* about that "earliest" Oscars comment
The first few years of the Oscars don't count in this statistic as they didn't settle into a regular calendar year eligibility system until the 7th Academy Awards so sometimes the ceremony was held in what would now be shocking months like May or November. The only months that the Oscars have never been held in are January, June, July, August, September, October, and December.