Academy rules that streaming platforms are still eligible to kick ass at the Oscars
After a bit of public hand-wringing from the likes of Steven Spielberg, The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences Board Of Governors announced their vote to maintain Oscars eligibility for streaming platforms like Netflix. Per CNN, the Academy confirmed their decision in a recent release:
“The rule states that to be eligible for awards consideration, a film must have a minimum seven-day theatrical run in a Los Angeles County commercial theater, with at least three screenings per day for paid admission. Motion pictures released in nontheatrical media on or after the first day of their Los Angeles County theatrical qualifying run remain eligible.”
Spielberg reportedly raised his, uh, concern to the board in March a mere week after Netflix’s Roma took home three Oscars, including Alfonso Cuarón’s win for Best Director. This attempt to block Netflix and other streaming sites from competing came after past comments where he assessed that Netflix films were more qualified for Emmy recognition.
The Academy did manage to pass a number of changes, including changing the Foreign Language Film category’s name to International Feature Film, increasing the number of nominated films in the Makeup And Hairstyling category, and no longer requiring the theatrical release of eight animated features per eligibility period to trigger the Animated Feature category.
This is a big sigh of relief for streaming services who wish to produce quality film content – including, potentially, Apple’s forthcoming streaming service, which Spielberg himself helped promote last month.