The Academy of Motion Picture Sciences is giving up some old traditions.
They say they won’t be showing Oscar films to Academy members in their screening room.
The reason? They say they’ve been averaging five people per screening.
Everyone’s staying home and watching the films on the Academy app, it appears.
What will they do with their enormous, beautiful theater? Bad Bunny concerts?
It used to be there was a big schedule of Oscar nominated films always running at the Academy. But like everything else, the crowd has moved on. How can you expect audiences to go to cineplexes for twenty bucks if Academy members won’t go see them for free?
This news comes on the heels of the Academy saying the Oscar telecast will feature live performances of only two of the five nominees this year. The other three will be hummed outside by those people who stand along the limo route with placards.
That’s not all. Two weeks ago, the Academy announced it was laying off its five archivists from the library and dissolving its decades old oral history project. The reaction was not met with enthusiasm. See the full statement below.
And so it goes…
Here’s the letter that was sent:
Thank you for your dedication and participation this Oscars season. We hope all of you were able to watch the Oscars Nominations Announcement this week. It was historic!
Over the last several months, we were thrilled to host for members more than 300 first-run Oscar-qualifying film screenings in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, New York and London. This included nominated films as well as all shortlisted International Feature films and the shortlisted films in our three short film categories. Many thanks to all members who participated.
In addition, we have increased member connectivity to FYC screenings by our industry partners via our FYC screenings calendar on the member site. It’s been incredible to see the commitment from industry partners to providing additional opportunities for members to see these films on the big screen. If you have not opted in for this function yet, please do so on the member site.
Moving forward, as turnout for our post-nomination screenings has been incredibly small over the last few years (an average of five members attended these screenings in the last two years), we will not rescreen these films. Please note that, in addition to FYC screening opportunities, all nominated films are available for members to watch on the Academy Screening Room.
Thank you for taking advantage of all these offerings — we appreciate your continued support and passion for watching movies!
Thank you,
The Academy
