The Academy is tightening up rules for the Oscars from next year, requiring members to watch every film in a category before voting.
In an announcement which is likely to shock many casual film fans given the prestige of the award ceremony in the industry – and how long it has been going – this has not technically been a hard rule until now.
Yes, that’s right – you could previously vote without seeing every film in a category, leading to some infamous admissions from anonymous members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences about their choices for Oscars.
There had, however, previously been some specific regulations around voting applied to categories such as Documentary and Short before.
As per a statement about its pre-voting procedures shared with press including Metro on Monday night, the Academy revealed that ‘members must now watch all nominated films in each category to be eligible to vote in the final round for the Oscars’.
This blanket rule will go into place for next year’s Oscars, set to take place on Sunday March 15, 2026, which will be the 98th edition of the Academy Awards.
The first ever Academy Awards took place on May 16, 1929, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, with the 15-minute event hosted by actor Douglas Fairbanks and accompanied simply a private dinner for 270 attendees.
In terms of actually proving that voters have watched the films required to vote in a certain category, an Academy spokesperson clarified that proof of views is currently something that can be tracked via the Academy Screening Room, an internal service where voting members can view eligible films.
If they’ve seen them elsewhere, such as in a theatre, they will also need to provide documentation of that.
The Academy rep continued to Entertainment Weekly: ‘There is also a ‘seen elsewhere’ form that members will need to submit before finals voting. If you haven’t viewed a title, it will still appear on your ballot, but it will be greyed out.’
‘For the speciality categories, we will still require viewing in prelims and noms as usual. For this year, we will now require viewing in finals voting for all categories and all voting members,’ the comment added.
An anonymous voter complained to Variety ahead of this year’s Oscars: ‘I watch everything! I hate it when people don’t take this job seriously.
‘It’s our responsibility to watch all of it… When you don’t, you miss masterpieces like The Substance and Emilia Pérez.
And now their fellow voters will be required to join them in that endeavour.
Many have previously been open about struggling to see all the films ahead of final voting rounds.
‘I’m bummed because I haven’t seen The Substance or I’m Still Here yet. The first Dune, I couldn’t get through; I’m not rushing for another three hours of Dune. There’s still time to re-evaluate, but I really struggled,’ an unnamed director told EW in a piece published the week of the Oscars this year.
An anonymous casting director added of their best picture pick: ‘[I’m abstaining from ranking] Dune: Part Two and Nickel Boys. I know nothing about Nickel Boys at all, so it seems unfair to me, and Dune, I haven’t seen either one. But, The Substance and The Brutalist, I’ve seen parts of them, and I’ll try to watch them.’
It was previously announced that the Academy Awards would be introducing a best stunt design Oscar for its 100th anniversary ceremony in 2027, a move long called for by the industry.
An achievement in casting Oscar is also being introduced at the 98th Academy Awards next year, following in the footsteps of the Bafta Film Awards and its similar gong first awarded in 2020.
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