The announcement of the Academy Award nominations has been delayed by two days in the wake of deadly wildfires in Los Angeles.
The Oscar nominees were originally scheduled to be released on January 17 but will now be released on January 19.
“We want to offer our deepest condolences to those who have been impacted by the devastating fires across Southern California. So many of our members and industry colleagues live and work in the Los Angeles area, and we are thinking of you,” wrote Bill Kramer, Academy CEO sent in a letter to members this week.
Other key Hollywood events have also changed their schedules in light of the ongoing fires.
Flames rise from the Sunset Fire in the hills overlooking the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, U.S. January 8, 2025. REUTERS/David Swanson
The 2025 Critics’ Choice Awards, which was scheduled to take place on Sunday, has been postponed to Jan. 26. The release of the Writers Guild of America and the Producers’ Guild of America nominations have both been pushed back to later this month, according to Deadline.
Others like the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ 2025 Tea Party, scheduled for Saturday, January 11, have been canceled altogether. The American Film Institute’s annual fest, a luncheon honoring the top 10 movies and TV Series, which was set to take place Friday, was also called off.
Several premieres, including Pamela Anderson’s “The Last Showgirl”, Jennifer Lopez’s “Unstoppable and Apple TV’s hit series Severance, have also been canceled, with no plans to reschedule before their streaming releases.
Hollywood actress Jean Smart published a statement to social media encouraging network television to refrain from televising the postponed award shows and instead “donate the revenue they would have garnered to the victims of the fires and the firefighters.”
The ongoing wildfires in Southern California are reportedly one of the costliest in US history with AccuWeather estimating the economic loss at an astronomical $135 billion to $150 billion.
Actors Billy Chrystal, Anthony Hopkins alongside Paris Hilton, James Woods, and Miles Teller have all reportedly lost their homes to the fire, with more celebrities and residents scrambling to evacuate.
