How many times have you watched the Oscars ceremonies only to see a film or person get snubbed? It happens every year, resulting in people wondering, “Do they even watch these movies?” Well, come to find out, they very well may not have. Despite something that might seem like a painfully obviously requirement, members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences were not required to view all the movies before voting on them. Yeah, seriously.
The 98th Academy Awards, to be held in 2026, will be the first Academy Award ceremony to require that voters actually watch all the films in a given category before they can vote. It is patently absurd that this wasn’t already a rule, but it does put into perspective the history of Oscar campaigning and the like. There have always been controversies surrounding these actions; take a look at the 1999 Oscar ceremony for example and what went on to help “Shakespeare in Love” beat out “Saving Private Ryan” for best picture.
The non-viewing requirement is also why other award ceremonies held prior to the Oscars carried so much weight. If you didn’t watch the movies, you could vote for whatever was winning along the way to make it seem like you were voting for the film that “deserved” it. After all, it one all those other awards, of course it deserves an Oscar! Granted, this isn’t always the case and upsets do happen, but revisit the paragraph about “Shakespeare in Love” to see how that works out.
Under the new rules, an academy member can only vote in categories in which they have certified that they’ve seen all of the nominated pictures. How will the Academy verify this? One method is confirmong which members attend digital screenings the Academy holds. If someone views a nominated film outside of those showings, they can submit a form indicating when and where they did; a festival or theater. It’s still a bit unclear how they would enforce this, or keep people honest.
This does come at a pivotal time for the Oscars as they expand to include more categories in the upcoming years. The 98th Oscar ceremony will include an award category for Achievement in Casting. The 100th award ceremony will open the door for the woefully ignored Stunt Design category too. Maybe now that people will actually have to watch the movies, some people will be getting their respective dues a lot more frequently.
