The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that it would no longer host screenings of films that are nominated for Oscars. The Academy, which organises the Oscar awards each year, announced in the Academy Bulletin in January, which was emailed to members in January. However, the decision began to be noticed in recent days after certain members raised a protest against the decision and asked others to join in.
For years, the Academy has been known to screen Oscar-hopefuls for its members throughout the year in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, New York and London, and then again after the announcement of the Oscar nominations. The films are screened in order for the members to be aware of the films in contention that year and also for them to vote once the nominations are announced.
However, in recent years, the attendance at all these screenings has declined drastically.
The last seven years, especially, have seen the sharp drop after the Academy introduced its members-only streaming service, the Academy Screening Room, through which members can watch films at home.
According to the Academy, the turnout is particularly low at the post-nomination screenings.
“An average of five members attended these screenings in the last two years,” the organisation asserted in its missive to members, which reportedly cost the organisation thousands of dollars a pop.
So the Academy decided to save resources by cancelling the screenings altogether.
Members are protesting now, at a time when they are expected to view the Oscar-nominated films and vote, which would eventually decide the winners of this year’s Oscar awards.
Many have argued that some films belong on the big screen. As the Academy has cancelled screenings, most will have to resort to screening links. They insist that nominees like Frankenstein and Avatar: Fire and Ash cannot be properly evaluated at home.
But the Academy counters that its members had plenty of opportunities to see those films on the big screen before the noms, not only at an official Academy screening or at a commercial cinema, but also through studio-organized FYC screenings, which studios are now able to alert members to via a calendar on the members-only website.
"Dear Academy members,
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"
The Oscar Awards 2026 nominations were announced on January 22. Oscars 2026 will take place on March 15 at Dolby Theatres in Los Angeles.
Source: WION