Academy decides members must actually watch films before voting in category

The Academy also updated language around AI use in Oscar hopeful films and filmmakers with refugee or asylum status.

By Emma Keates  |  April 21, 2025 | 3:25pm
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Academy decides members must actually watch films before voting in category
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In an update that shouldn’t be an update, the Academy has decided that “Academy members must now watch all nominated films in each category to be eligible to vote in the final round for the Oscars.” Yes, that is a notable “procedural change” for the organization, as it announced in a press email this afternoon. Previously, voters were kindly asked not to vote if they hadn’t seen all the nominated films, but there was no real way to track it, leading to all those blood-boiling anonymous ballots declaring that certain films were too long or too boring or whatever other excuses people could come up with not to do their jobs fairly. 

Now, per The Hollywood Reporter, voting members must demonstrate that they’ve actually watched all the eligible films in any given category for the Academy’s e-voting system to give them access to the ballot. They can do this automatically by watching films on the members-only Academy Screening Room platform, or by submitting a form detailing the time and place they watched a film if it was viewed elsewhere. 

The organization also announced a few other updates to its rules, including codifying language stating that filmmakers with refugee or asylum status can submit in the International Feature Film category on behalf of the country in which they currently reside. The Best Cinematography category is also getting a shortlist for the first time, as is the brand new Achievement In Casting award.

As for the use of AI, which became a major talking point in this year’s race, the Academy added language but said a whole lot of nothing. “With regard to Generative Artificial Intelligence and other digital tools used in the making of the film, the tools neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination. The Academy and each branch will judge the achievement, taking into account the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship when choosing which movie to award,” the new language, as recommended by the Academy’s Science and Technology Council, reads.

We’ll see how it all shakes out now that voters can’t choose to abstain from watching certain movies in protest, or for any other reason. Preliminary voting officially begins December 8, 2025, for the ceremony on March 15, 2026.

 
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