In this Monday, Feb. 11, 2013 photo, the interior of the Dolby Theatre is seen in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. The 85th Academy Awards will be broadcast from the Dolby Theatre for the first time on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
-
In this Monday, Feb. 11, 2013 photo, the interior of the Dolby Theatre is seen in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. The 85th Academy Awards will be broadcast from the Dolby Theatre for the first time on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
-
This publicity photo provided by Dolby Laboratories, Inc. shows the interior of the Dolby Lounge located inside the Dolby Theatre in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Dolby gave a makeover to the VIP lobby lounge. The 85th Academy Awards will be broadcast from the Dolby Theatre for the first time on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Dolby Laboratories, Inc., Ryan Gobuty/Gensler)
-
This Monday, Feb. 11, 2013 photo shows the Dolby Theatre in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. The 85th Academy Awards will be broadcast from the Dolby Theatre for the first time on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
-
This Monday, Feb. 11, 2013 photo shows the interior of the Dolby Lounge located inside the Dolby Theatre in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Dolby gave a makeover to the VIP lobby lounge. The 85th Academy Awards will be broadcast from the Dolby Theatre for the first time on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
-
In this Monday, Feb. 11, 2013 photo, from left, Dolby's Ramzi Haidamus, vice president of marketing and business development, David Gray, vice president of content services, and Gary Epstein, product marketing manager of professional content tools pose for photos in the Dolby Lounge at the Dolby Theatre in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. The 85th Academy Awards will be broadcast from the Dolby Theatre for the first time on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
-
FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2013 file photo, 2013 Oscar host Seth MacFarlane presents the Academy nominations for the 85th Academy Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. MacFarlane may bring a cheekiness to Sunday's show that prods younger viewers to check out the Oscars just to see what he might pull. The 85th Academy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on Feb. 24, 2013. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Photo, File)
-
FILE - This publicity image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows John Goodman, left, Alan Arkin, center, and actor-director Ben Affleck in a scene from "Argo." The film has dominated the awards picture with wins at the Golden Globes and ceremonies held by the Directors Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild and the Producers Guild of America. "Argo" now is poised to do what only four movies have managed before at the Oscars: win best picture without a nomination for its director. (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures, Claire Folger, File)
-
FILE -This image released by DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation shows Tommy Lee Jones in a scene from "Lincoln." Jones is nominated for an Academy Award for supporting actor for "Lincoln." The 85th Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 24. (AP Photo/DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, David James)
-
FILE - This June 16, 2012 photo shows Seth MacFarlane posing for a portrait at The Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Early reviews for Seth MacFarlane's Oscar-hosting skills are very positive. The Academy Awards won't be presented until Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, but MacFarlane won laughs from the show's director during a rehearsal Thursday, Feb. 21, inside the Dolby Theatre. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
-
FILE - This Feb. 22, 2013 file photo shows Antonella Michelena, a television reporter from Mexico, silhouetted as she reports from the red carpet outside the Dolby Theatre in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. While the red carpet, champagne flutes and giant Oscar statues are still being rolled up, washed off and stowed away for next year's Academy Awards, the timing for that ceremony remains uncertain with the 2014 Winter Olympics scheduled to be held from Feb. 7 to 23 _ dates that fall right in the middle of Hollywood's awards season. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, file)
Olympics expected to affect next Oscars date
LOS ANGELES (
AP) — While the giant Oscar statues are still being washed off and stowed away, planners are already struggling with the timing for next year's show in what could be a very early and very late awards season because of the 2014 Winter Olympics, which fall right in the middle of things from Feb. 7 to 23.
Oscar organizers have yet to make a decision about next year's schedule, but the motion picture academy and broadcaster ABC avoided the Winter Games in 2006 and 2010 by pushing the show to March, after originally moving up the telecast to late February from March in 2004. This was partly in response to the awards fatigue factor, given all the ceremonies now populating the period. In earlier decades, the Oscars — pretty much the only show in town — were held in March and even as late as April.
"They don't have a lot of wiggle room," said Brad Adgate, research director for media-buying company Horizon Media. "I would suspect next year's Oscars will be held in March. The Academy Awards have never been held in January. They're always the final show during awards season, and obviously the most prestigious and highest rated."
The Screen Actors Guild and Producers Guild of America have already announced that they're moving up their 2014 ceremonies to Martin Luther King weekend on Jan. 18 and 19 respectively to avoid the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and the Super Bowl at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., which is set for Feb. 2.
The timing of the Winter Olympics is likely to affect other awards shows, too.
Dates for next year's Grammys and Golden Globes shows, as well as ceremonies for the Directors Guild and Writers Guild, have yet to be announced. There could be a month-long gap between the 86th annual Academy Awards and all other awards season ceremonies, if those shows are scheduled for January and the Oscars end up in March. This raises concerns for Oscar organizers about potential loss of interest and momentum for nominees, which ultimately could dampen the show's all-important TV ratings.
Such concerns have been partly behind a push in recent years to move up several awards proceedings. The motion picture academy, for instance, held the nominations for this year's Oscars earlier than ever on Jan. 10. That put the announcements three days before Hollywood's second-biggest awards ceremony, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Golden Globes, which had also been moved up from previous years.
___
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.
Tags:
bob hope, screen actors guild, motion picture academy, derrik j. lang, grammys, martin luther king, academy of motion picture arts and sciences, jan., foreign press association, golden globes, producers guild, writers guild, winter olympics, brad adgate, horizon media, east rutherford, directors guild, sochi, olympic games, arts_entertainment, things, feb., middle, concerns, winter olympic games, winter games, super bowl, instance, timing, academy award, hollywood, los angeles, telecast, academy award for best picture, academy awards, oscars, 2014 winter olympics, broadcaster, ap entertainment writer, awards, wiggle room, metlife stadium, potential loss, research director, awards season, 81st academy awards, second-biggest awards ceremony, annual academy awards, oscar organizers, late awards season, giant oscar statues, awards season ceremonies, golden globes shows, all-important tv ratings, oscars end, media-buying company, earlier decades, awards proceedings, month-long gap
Print Page
