The shut down of the world’s theaters due to the coronavirus pandemic has already affected the usually packed awards season calendar. The Oscars changed their calendar first, moving to April 25 with other major awards shows following suit. And this morning, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association revealed the Golden Globes will jump on the Academy Awards’ original date, February 28.
Despite locking up Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as hosts earlier this year, the HFPA had not announced a date for the 2021 ceremony. Traditionally, the Globes have occurred the first weekend in January or the first weekend of January after New Year’s Day if that holiday landed on the weekend. This move pushes it out of January for the first time since 1972.
While the Oscars have moved their eligibility windows to the same date as the Globes, February 28, the HFPA did not reveal a new qualification time frame for theatrical releases. In a short statement, the HFPA noted, “To accommodate both domestic and international film and television productions, the HFPA will provide further guidance around eligibility, voting period and revised nominations announcement timing in the coming weeks.”
It is assumed that the HFPA will keep the television window until the end of 2020 while extending the theatrical window. What date it’s extended too, remains to be seen.
One of the reasons the Globes have increased their influence over the last two decades is the fact Hollywood’s movie studios would use the publicity opportunities of the highly-rated telecast to help promote movies expanding nationwide or opening in theaters, often on the lucrative Martin Luther King Day later in the month. That will likely not be the case with no major holiday in March in 2021.
The BAFTA Awards previously announce a new 2021 date of April 11. The Independent Spirit Awards moved to April 24, 2021. At this time, none of the major guild honors have revealed new dates.