Golden Globes Nabs Date Oscars Abandoned
LOS ANGELES — The 2021 Golden Globes will take place on Feb. 28, a date that the Oscars abandoned last week in an effort to salvage its 93rd installment in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the small group of journalists that hands out the Globes, had not previously announced a date for the 78th ceremony. The Globes have taken place in January since 1973, in part because the press association likes to set the pace for the Academy Awards race — or at least try. The February slot will allow the Globes to maintain that position. The Oscars were rescheduled for April 25, with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences emphasizing that it selected that date by consulting with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
The press association, which collaborates with Dick Clark Productions and NBC to put on the televised Globes ceremony, gave no explanation for its selection. It also did not say how the February date would impact film and television series eligibility, which normally adheres to the calendar year. The window for best picture consideration at the coming Academy Awards was extended to Feb. 28 instead of Dec. 31 to make up for the closing of theaters between March and June because of the pandemic.
As previously announced, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will host the 2021 Globes, which the press association said on Monday would continue to be “Hollywood’s party of the year.” It will take place as usual at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. Ms. Fey and Ms. Poehler last hosted the freewheeling show in 2015.
The Globes attract a television audience of roughly 18 million.
In another awards-show postponement, the Critics’ Choice Association on Monday said that its 26th annual ceremony would take place on March 7 with Taye Diggs as the host. The Critics’ Choice Awards, broadcast by the CW, typically takes place in January.
The pandemic has thrown a wrench into Hollywood’s awards machinery. Many art films that were scheduled for release by the end of the year are still unfinished. Tastemaker events like the Cannes Film Festival have been disrupted. With theaters closed, the organizations behind the Globes and the Oscars said in the spring that streaming films, for the first time, could skip a theatrical release entirely and still remain eligible.