©

Getty Images

The Oscars -

The annual awards ceremony put on by the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences is the undisputed king of all film industry award ceremonies.

©

Getty Images

Historical event -

Every year for the past 92 years the greats of the acting world have gathered together to celebrate each other’s successes.

©

Getty Images

Controversy -

At times controversial, the Oscars is easily the most buzzed about entertainment event of the year (although TV viewing figures have declined in recent years).

©

Getty Images

Statistics -

In 2014, Twitter released statistics to show that tweets about the event that year were viewed 3.3 billion times worldwide.

©

Getty Images

Famous selfie -

In that same year, Ellen DeGeneres tweeted a selfie with a number of famous faces and it became the most retweeted picture ever to grace the site.

©

Getty Images

Oscars 2021 -

Of course, with the global COVID-19 pandemic still at large, the Oscars ceremony is set to look a little different in 2021.

©

Getty Images

April -

To start with, the 2021 event will take place in April rather than in February. The ceremony was presumably postponed in the hope that a physical event will be possible by April.

©

Shutterstock

Uncertainty -

However, there is still a lot of uncertainty about how the pandemic will progress and whether it will be sensible or even possible to hold a physical ceremony at all.

©

Shutterstock

Inspiration -

If the Oscars are to go online, organizers will be able to draw inspiration from a number of virtual award ceremonies, such as the Emmy Awards, that took place in 2020.

©

Getty Images

European Film Awards -

They may also look at the possibility of a hybrid event, drawing inspiration from the European Film Awards, which took place in December 2020.

©

Getty Images

Physical attendance -

The event was hosted from the Futurium building in Berlin, but the only people in physical attendance were the hosts.

©

Getty Images

Virtual attendance -

The nominees attended virtually only, and the winners were congratulated online. According to Mike Downey, the chair of the European Film Academy, the event mostly ran smoothly.

©

Getty Images

Los Angeles -

For the time being, organizers of the Oscars are aiming to hold an in-person ceremony in Los Angeles on April 25, 2021.

©

Getty Images

Steven Soderbergh -

Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh has been appointed to “re-envision” the ceremony in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

©

Getty Images

Steven Soderbergh -

The American director, who is best known for his films ‘Erin Brockovich,’ ‘Contagion,’ and ‘Traffic,’ said that he and his collaborators were “thrilled and terrified” by the challenge.

©

Getty Images

Statement -

They gave a statement explaining that, “Because of the situation we’re all in, there’s an opportunity to focus on the movies and the people who make them in a new way.”

©

Getty Images

High-profile event -

Whether a physical event or not, many players are hoping for a high-profile event that will give the industry the boost it needs after such a difficult year.

©

Getty Images

Statement -

According to Mike Downey, the purpose of an awards ceremony now “is to demonstrate that cinema is still alive, and to paraphrase a quote, reports of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.”

©

Getty Images

Oscar bounce -

Many filmmakers are surely hoping for a high-profile event, since history tells us this can do wonders for ticket sales.

©

Shutterstock

'Parasite' -

According to Comscore, box-office sales for Bong Joon-Ho’s ‘Parasite’ went up by 79% after its Best Picture nomination at the Oscars in 2020.

©

Getty Images

Harsh reality -

Hosting a physical event will inevitably raise the profile of the Oscars ceremony in 2021, but even so the reality is that there won’t be so much of a buildup as normal.

©

Getty Images

Buildup -

The traditional excitement that builds throughout January as nominees gather at parties, photo calls, and other red carpet events won’t be so tangible this year.

©

Getty Images

Netflix -

There is one Oscars contender that stands to benefit from the pandemic, however, and that’s Netflix. With people confined to their homes, Netflix has enjoyed greater film success.

©

Getty Images

High-profile releases -

Netflix has had a number of high-profile releases in 2020, including David Fincher’s ‘Mank’ and Spike Lee’s ‘Da 5 Bloods.’

©

Getty Images

'The Prom' -

It was also Netflix that put out the musical comedy-drama ‘The Prom,’ which, according to Meryl Streep, is “a big embrace of a film that we need at this time in the world.”

©

Getty Images

Diversity -

In addition to the projected greater visibility for Netflix, it is hoped that the Oscars 2021 will be a more diverse ceremony than in previous years.

©

Getty Images

Diversity -

The voting body for 2021 has 819 new members, 45% of whom are women and 36% of whom are not white.

Sources: (BBC)

See also: Movie stars who directed themselves all the way to the Oscars

©

Getty Images