The Oscars went cinematic, but the audience stayed home

Entertainment · Published 19 October 2026 · Updated 20 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: To combat pandemic fatigue, the 93rd Academy Awards were reimagined as a feature film. They swapped standard TV ratios for a cinematic 24 frames-per-second aesthetic and moved to a historic train station. Yet, despite the high-concept production, it became the least-watched broadcast since 1974.

The 93rd Academy Awards, held on April 25, 2021, represented a radical departure from tradition driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. To maintain the 'magic' of cinema, producers Jesse Collins, Stacey Sher, and Steven Soderbergh treated the telecast as a movie. The production opted for a movie-style frame rate of 24 frames per second and a widescreen proportion instead of the common 16:9 TV layout. The venue was also shifted from the Dolby Theatre to Union Station in Los Angeles, with production designer David Rockwell drawing inspiration from the Millennium Biltmore and Hollywood Roosevelt hotels.

The ceremony broke several long-standing rules. For the first time since 1988, the awards were held in April, necessitating an eligibility deadline extension to February 28, 2021. The Academy also combined the Sound Mixing and Sound Editing categories into a single 'Best Sound' award and introduced a 60% original music requirement for Best Original Score. In a notable structural shift, the lead acting categories were presented last, a move Soderbergh claimed was intended to save the most dramatic speeches for the finale.

Despite these innovations, the broadcast faced significant hurdles. It garnered only 10.4 million viewers, the lowest since records began in 1974. The event also faced scrutiny over its handling of the late Chadwick Boseman. While many expected a posthumous win for Boseman, Anthony Hopkins won Best Actor. Hopkins, who declined to attend in person from Wales, was reportedly offered a Zoom appearance by the Academy but was turned down by producers, leading to a controversial conclusion to the night.

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