Oscar voters actually need to watch the nominated movies now
In order to cast a final-round vote in the Oscars race, Academy members are now required to watch each film nominated in a category. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that news on Monday, along with other updates to rules for the 2026 Oscars.
Until now, that was a requirement for nominations in specialty categories, like documentary feature and international feature. But members voting in all other categories have been on the honor system — encouraged, but not required, to watch all the nominated films and performances for which they vote in the final round.
The organization says it does monitor whether or not its members view nominated films on its private online screening room. Going forward, members will need to submit a form indicating whether they’ve seen films “elsewhere,” such as at a film festival or a private event, before they can vote for finalists.
The Academy also shared new insight into its approach to artificial intelligence in filmmaking – an increasingly hot topic in Hollywood, where AI played a major part in labor negotiations during the 2023 writers and actors strikes. Going forward, generative AI and other digital tools “neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination,” reads the new regulation. “The Academy and each branch will judge the achievement, taking into account the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship when choosing which movie to award.”
Best picture nominee The Brutalist prompted conversation earlier this year over the use of an AI tool to enhance the Hungarian accents of co-stars Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones.
In its new regulations, the Academy also opened more possibilities for filmmakers who are refugees or have asylum status in the countries from which films are submitted. A new rule states that to be eligible for consideration in the international feature film category, countries will now have to confirm that “creative control of the film was largely in the hands of citizens, residents, or individuals with refugee or asylum status in the submitting country.”
For the first time, casting directors will get their own Oscars statuettes in the 2026 Oscars. They are required to submit “written descriptions of the casting process unique to their films,” and to include “a photo grid of the cast and/or the full cast list.”
Next year’s Oscars ceremony will be March 15, 2026, hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien and broadcast live on ABC.
Fired Copyright Office head sues Trump administration over removal
Shira Perlmutter's termination came shortly after the Copyright Office published a long-anticipated report on artificial intelligence.
Judge blocks Trump admin’s move to bar Harvard from enrolling international students
This comes in response to a lawsuit Harvard filed on Friday morning, challenging the Trump administration's abrupt move to revoke the school's ability to enroll foreign students.
The White House rejects a watchdog finding that it’s breaking the law over halted funds
The White House budget office rejected the conclusion of a nonpartisan congressional watchdog that said the Trump administration is breaking the law by not spending funds as directed by Congress.
What should happen to George Floyd Square? The community is divided
Five years after George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, the future of the intersection where it happened is uncertain. Today, a memorial is set up in the partially blocked street. But some want to move on. How does a community reckon with its past and confront its future?
Mission: Impossible’s overblown ‘Final Reckoning’ still thrills
The two hour, 49 minute conclusion to the seven-sequel franchise is self-congratulatory and inanely plotted. But, as always, it's fun to watch Tom Cruise, now 62, execute eye-popping stunts.
Ukraine and Russia begin the largest prisoner-of-war exchange since the invasion
Ukraine and Russia have begun the exchange of 1,000 prisoners of war, the largest such swap since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
