Next years Oscars will allow streaming-only movies to qualify, but with heavy restrictions

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science will allow some movies released on streaming platforms and via digital release to qualify for the 2021 Oscars because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This doesn’t mean that every movie on every streaming service is suddenly going to be eligible to be nominated for Best Picture, though. The board of governors have decided that a movie which winds up on a streaming service must have a previously planned theatrical release. This is closer to the usual qualifications movies must meet to be eligible, a list of requirements that typically include running for seven days theatrically in a commercial theater in Los Angeles County.

But the change does mean that a movie like Trolls World Tour — which was...

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