This year, we'll be getting our Oscar festivities earlier than usual. With the world-famous awards show slated to air live in early February, we're already in the thick of it with awards season. It'll only be a matter of time before we learn which 2019 movies will take home this season's slate of gold statues. Therefore, there's hardly any time to waste! As the 2020 Oscar nominations are set to be announced in a few short weeks, we have a lot to look forward to this Oscar season. The 92nd Academy Awards is already looking contentious, which should make for another fun, exciting evening.
There is a lot we don't know about this year's Oscars ceremony. We don't know who will be nominated (though there is always speculation). We don't know who will win. Hell, we don't even know who'll be there. Or who the host will be (assuming there is a host this year). But there are a lot of things we do know about the forthcoming Academy Awards ceremony, and we are taking this opportunity to give you a proper rundown of what's to come.
When Do The 2020 Oscars Take Place?
This year, as mentioned earlier, the 92nd Academy Awards will take place earlier than usual. While the live awards show has traditionally aired in either late February or early March in previous years, this year's ceremony will be televised on February 9th, 2020, starting with the red carpet events at 6:30 PM. As per usual, this year's Oscar telecast airs on ABC, which will — once again — be held in the historic Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Who's Hosting The 2020 Oscars?
Ultimately, it's hard to know if there will even be a host at this year's Academy Awards ceremony. After a great deal of controversy surrounding Kevin Hart, the planned host for last year's Oscars stepped down from the position, and the awards ceremony decided to have a host-less telecast for the first time since 1989. The ceremony received mixed notices, but generally speaking, there were a lot of folks who thought the show went off without a hitch, allowing itself to go by a little more breezy than normal without the added comedy segments provided by the host. As it was reported by Thrillist, ABC's entertainment president Karey Burke suggested that a host-less Oscars might now be the norm, especially with many people getting cold feet about the possibility of stepping in to host the show in our social media age, but there's been nothing officially announced about this possibility. For now, it's one giant question mark.
When Will The 2020 Academy Awards Nominations Be Announced?
The nominations for the 92nd annual Academy Awards will be announced on January 13th, 2020. If they follow the tradition of the past few years, they will be streamed live on Oscars.com and Oscars.org, as well as the Academy's social media pages, which includes Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Who Will Perform At The 2020 Academy Awards?
Traditionally, the Best Original Song category has gotten a mixed amount of notice during the Oscar ceremony. Some years, every song is performed. Other years, only a few songs are performed live. Other times, there are only one or two songs performed, or no songs performed. Last year, as many likely remember Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's outstanding rendition of "Shallow" from A Star Is Born, there were noteworthy musical performances during the evening's ceremony. This year, we may see all of the nominees get a chance to perform. Nothing has been said or suggested otherwise, so it's just a matter of waiting for that to be confirmed. As for the potential nominees, it's hard to predict what will make the cut. Some potential nominees include Beyonce for The Lion King, Elton John for either The Lion King and/or Rocketman, Randy Newman for Toy Story 4, and Taylor Swift for Cats, to name a mere few.
What Movies Are In the Running For Best Picture?
This year's race for Best Picture is looking pretty wide at the moment, with any number of movies fighting for the chance to be nominated for the very prestigious category. Just a few of the frontrunners at the moment, however, include (but are certainly not limited to), The Irishman, Little Women, 1917, Joker, Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood, Marriage Story, Bombshell, Parasite, A Hidden Life, Uncut Gems, The Two Popes, Richard Jewell, Cats, Ford v. Ferrari, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Jojo Rabbit, The Farewell, and Knives Out. Of course, not all of these films will make their way into the selection process, notably with only 10 possible nominations (and usually the Academy picks between seven or eight films). Still, it will be fascinating to see what makes the cut. The films vary across the board in terms of tone and subject matter. It makes for an interesting crop of films.
Which Actors/Actresses Are In The Running For Academy Awards?
It is going to be a tremendously tight race for Best Actor this year. The field is stacked with potential nominees, though there are a few frontrunners at the moment. At the front of the pack is Joaquin Phoenix in the title role for Joker, though Adam Driver is definitely picking up notice and attention for his fantastic work in Marriage Story. These two actors might be neck-and-neck as the days keep winding down towards next year's award ceremony. Furthermore, Antonio Banderas in Pain & Glory, Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems, Robert De Niro in The Irishman (another potential frontrunner), Leonardo DiCaprio for Once Upon a Time ... In Hollywood, Jonathan Pryce for The Two Popes, and possibly Eddie Murphy for Dolemite is My Name, Taron Egerton for Rocketman, Matt Damon for Ford v. Ferrari, and Timothee Chamalet for Little Women are all in the running for this year's award.
And those are only a few of the potential contenders for Best Actor this year. No matter what, there are going to be a lot of snubs in that category. While this year's Best Actress isn't as tough as the Best Actor field, there are certainly no shortage of frontrunners at the moment vying for the award. Specifically, Renee Zellweger in Judy and Scarlett Johansson in Marriage Story look like strong possibilities, while Saoirse Ronan in Little Women, Charlize Theron in Bombshell, Awkwafina in The Farewell, and Cynthia Erivo in Harriet are strong contenders at the moment. But it's still an open race.
This is what we know so far about the 92nd annual Academy Awards ceremony, and there's certainly going to be more information to come in the days, weeks and months ahead. Therefore, stay tuned to CinemaBlend as we'll continue to feed you updates related to this exciting Oscar season.
