An Oscars unlike any other in the history of films

At the 93rd Academy Awards, there will be no host, no audience, nor face masks for nominees attending the ceremony at Los Angeles’ Union Station — this year’s hub for a show usually broadcast from the Dolby Theatre. In contrast with the largely virtual Golden Globes, Zoom boxes have been closed out — though numerous international hubs and satellite feeds will connect nominees unable to travel.

Show producers are hoping to return some of the traditional glamour to the Oscars, even in a pandemic year. The red carpet is back, though not the throngs; only a handful of media outlets will be allowed on site. Casual wear is a no-no. Pulling the musical interludes (though not the in memoriam segment) from the three-hour broadcast — and drastically cutting down the time it will take winners to reach the podium — will free up a lot of time in the ceremony. And producers, led by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, are promising a reinvented telecast.

The Oscars will look more like a movie, Soderbergh has said. The show will be shot in 24 frames-per-second (as opposed to 30), appear more widescreen and the presenters — including Brad Pitt, Halle Berry, Reese Witherspoon, Harrison Ford, Rita Moreno and Zendaya — are considered “cast members.” The telecast’s first 90 seconds, Soderbergh has claimed, will “announce our intention immediately.”

But even a great show may not be enough to save the Oscars from an expected ratings slide. Award show ratings have cratered during the pandemic, and this year’s nominees — many of them smaller, lower-budget dramas — won’t come close to the drawing power of past Oscar heavyweights like Titanic or Black Panther. Last year’s Oscars, when Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite became the first non-English language film to win best picture, was watched by 23.6 million, an all-time low. Netflix dominated this year with 36 nominations, including the lead-nominee Mank, David Fincher’s black-and-white drama about Citizen Kane co-writer Herman J. Mankiewicz. The streamer is still pursuing its first best-picture win; this year, its best shot may be Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7.

But the night’s top prize, best picture, is widely expected to go to Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, a contemplative character study about an itinerant woman (Frances McDormand) in the American West. The pandemic-delayed Oscars will bring to a close the longest awards season ever — one that turned the season’s industrial complex of cocktail parties and screenings virtual. Eligibility was extended into February of this year, and for the first time, a theatrical run wasn’t a requirement of nominees.

But it’s been a punishing year for Hollywood. Around the world, movie theater marquees replaced movie titles with pleas to wear a mask. Streaming services rushed to fill the void, redrawing the balance between studios and theatres — and likely forever ending the three-month theatrical exclusivity for new releases. Just weeks before the Oscars, one of Los Angeles’ most iconic theatres, the Cinerama Dome, along with ArcLight Cinemas, went out of business. After the pandemic, Hollywood — and the Oscars — may not ever be quite the same.