Film Academy Bosses Talk New Oscar Rules and Getting People Back Into Movie Theaters

By Marc Malkin

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be on the “frontlines” when it comes time to encourage people to return to movie theaters, say president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson.

“We’ll be leading that campaign. We’re already talking to filmmakers about that,” Hudson told Variety on Tuesday afternoon. “We’re already talking about how to do outreach and get people back to theaters for that communal experience. It’s a Rosie the Riveter campaign war effort. Let’s come out of these extraordinary times and terrible times and do what we love and that is to go to the movies.”

Rubin added, “We’ll be on the frontlines. You could bet on it.”

Earlier in the day, the Academy announced it has made adjustments to the 2021 Oscars in the wake of the pandemic.

Chief among them is a temporary hold on the rule that a film must have a seven-day theatrical release in Los Angeles County to qualify for Oscar eligibility. Instead, films released digitally can qualify if the studio had originally planned a theatrical release. “I think everyone is sympathetic to the filmmakers’ plight and we’re here to support our members and the film community,” Rubin said. “It makes sense when we don’t really know what’s to come in terms of the availability of theatrical exhibition… We need to make allowances for this year only and during this time when theaters are not open so great film work can be seen and celebrated.”

Another standout from the board meeting was the consolidation of the sound mixing and editing categories into one. “This is an organic result of the sound branch itself looking at the way they work together and they’re the ones that brought this after a lot of internal discussion,” Rubin said. “They’re the ones that brought this to the board as a proposal.”

As for the 2021 Oscar telecast, Rubin and Hudson insisted it’s too early to predict if any major changes will be implemented because of COVID-19.

“It’s impossible to know what the landscape will be,” Rubin said. “We know we want to celebrate film but we do not know exactly what form it will take.”