Concerned about the plummeting audience, the Hollywood Academy has been considering options for years to make the Oscar ceremonies more agile.
They have modified the order of the awards, reduced the times for the winners' speeches and even suggested eliminating some categories from the broadcast, provoking harsh criticism from the members.
The organization has communicated this Tuesday to its members that the gala on March 27, number 94 in history and where Netflix
's The Power of the Dog
starts as a favorite, will undergo some changes to "prioritize the television audience" and keep it " essential and relevant” of the show.
More information
All Oscar 2022 nominees
The main change is that the face-to-face ceremony will begin an hour earlier than scheduled in the Dolby theater.
During this time, before the start of the transmission, eight prizes will be awarded: Documentary Short, Editing, Makeup and Hairdressing, Soundtrack (where Alberto Iglesias competes, for
Madres paralleles
), Production Design, Animated Short (another category with a Spanish presence). , thanks to
The Windshield Wiper,
by Alberto Mielgo), Short Film and Sound.
The production will then edit these awards and integrate them into the live broadcast, which will last about three hours and where 15 categories will be awarded.
"To be clear, all nominees will be identified [during the television broadcast] and speeches from all winners will be included live," Academy President David Rubin said in an email to members.
To reassure members of the different unions, Rubin specified that the eight awards mentioned "will not be presented before the show or during the red carpet," as some in Hollywood have speculated.
This means that the statuettes will be awarded with the Dolby filled to its full capacity.
The Academy believes this change will give more time to entertain the audience with musical numbers, excerpts from the nominated films, tributes and jokes from the presenters.
A few days ago, the ABC network, host of the award, confirmed that three comedians, Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer and Regina Hall, will be in charge of guiding the ceremony after three years of Oscar without a presenter.
"For the audience at home the flow of the show doesn't change, but this one will be tighter and more electrifying," Rubin promised.
The president made it clear that the Academy will correct one of the great fiascoes of last year, when the order of the awards was reversed.
The 2021 gala closed with the Best Actor award thinking it would go to the late Chadwick Boseman, but it actually went to Anthony Hopkins, who was not present.
The 2022 ceremony will close again with the most anticipated award.
In this way the Oscars mimic some other big award ceremonies.
Especially the Grammys, dedicated to music, and the Emmys, to television, where several categories are awarded off-camera.
This has made it possible to add musical numbers or reduce the time of the broadcasts, a request that the chains that broadcast the awards insist on year after year.
These adjustments are intended to stop the drop in viewers aggravated during the pandemic.
Last year's ceremony was the least watched in history, with just 9.23 million people tuning in.
It was a 51% drop in audience compared to 2020.
The Academy has also recently announced some initiatives to increase public involvement.
Among these is the creation of an award for the viewers' favorite film, which will be voted on via Twitter and announced on March 27 during the gala.
Those who participate in the call will be able to win a trip to Los Angeles to follow the 2023 awards from the Dolby theater and even get to present a category in a ceremony that promises to pay more and more attention to people.
