No more PowerPoint presentations for Oscar nominations – the big screens with pictures of the actors, directors and movies are back to celebrate the best of 2022.
The Academy announced that it will return to an in-person live event from the Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Jan. 24.
While the ungodly early hour between 5 and 6 a.m. P.T. is still in effect (prime time nomination special is right there for the taking), this marks one of the low-hanging fruits the Academy had dangling in front of them to get an easy win.
As many remember from the ’80s, ’90s and aughts of Academy announcements, a celebrity and whoever the current president of the Academy was in place at the time would take the stage, with five small screens surrounding them. And then, to a room full of antsy publicists, exhausted journalists and other industry figures, the reveal of the major categories would bring gasps and groans from the crowd.
For those of us that were watching at home, it’s one of the traditions that made many awards enthusiasts (myself included) fall in love with the Academy and the celebration of filmmaking.
As technology and the industry changed, the five small tube TVs were removed and graduated to a large screen with movie stills and splits. In 2015, the Academy made its most respected move – announcing all 24 categories. From the producers of best picture to the directors of the animated short film, artisans could now see their names and film titles on the screen and read by the leading figures in Hollywood. It would be split into two parts, as not every television network would carry the reading of the artisan categories (but they definitely should). This process would bring the likes of JJ Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron in the first year and then Guillermo del Toro and Ang Lee in the second.
The noises from the room still remain the most memorable and the single best moments of the awards season, next to the actual ceremony itself. However, in 2019, they began to move away from the large spectacle and lean into the simple text to do the work for them. The excitement was minimal in this format, missing the shocks and reactions with the announcers in a smaller room format and missing the AMPAS president.
To celebrate the in-person format return, Variety ranks the five most memorable morning announcements that garnered the best reactions from inside the room.
Honorable mention: Adrien Brody jokingly tries to kiss Frank Pierson.
