Award ceremony for films of 2021
The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The awards were scheduled after their usual late February date to avoid conflicting with both the 2022 Winter Olympics and Super Bowl LVI, with the latter being held in nearby Inglewood, California. During the gala, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 23 categories honoring films released from March 1 to December 31, 2021. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Will Packer and Shayla Cowan and was directed by Glenn Weiss. Actresses Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes hosted the show for the first time. Two days earlier, in an event held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom of the Ovation Hollywood complex in Hollywood, the Academy held its 12th annual Governors Awards ceremony.
"CODA" won three awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included "Dune" with six awards, "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" with two, and "Belfast", "Cruella", "Drive My Car", "Encanto", "King Richard", "The Long Goodbye", "No Time to Die", "The Power of the Dog", "The Queen of Basketball", "Summer of Soul", "West Side Story" and "The Windshield Wiper" with one each. 
The ceremony received negative reviews, and many were critical of Best Actor winner Will Smith slapping comedian Chris Rock after Rock made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, whose head was allegedly shaved due to alopecia areata. In response, the Academy banned Smith from attending its events for a decade as punishment. The telecast drew 16.62 million viewers in the United States.
Winners and nominees.
The nominees for the 94th Academy Awards were announced on February 8, 2022, by actors Leslie Jordan and Tracee Ellis Ross. "The Power of the Dog" led all nominees with twelve nominations; "Dune" came in second with ten. The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on March 27.
"CODA" became the first Best Picture winner to be distributed via a streaming platform and the first one starring a primarily deaf cast. Its three nominations were the fewest for any Best Picture winner since 1932's "Grand Hotel", and it was the first Best Picture winner without directing or film editing nominations since the aforementioned film. Furthermore, it became the first without any nominations in the below-the-line categories since 1980's "Ordinary People". Best Director winner Jane Campion was the third woman to win the award and the first woman to be nominated twice, having previously been nominated for 1993's "The Piano". "The Power of the Dog" became the first film to win Best Director as its sole award since 1967's "The Graduate". Best Original Screenplay winner Kenneth Branagh was the first person to have been nominated in seven different categories throughout his career, having also been nominated as director and as one of the producers for "Belfast".
Best Supporting Actor winner Troy Kotsur became the first deaf man and second deaf individual overall to win an acting award. Best Supporting Actress winner Ariana DeBose was the first Afro-Latina person and first openly queer woman of color to win an acting Oscar. Furthermore, as a result of her win for portraying Anita in the 2021 film adaptation of the Broadway musical "West Side Story", she and Rita Moreno, who previously won for playing the same character in the 1961 film adaptation, became the third pair of actors to win for portraying the same character in two different films. Nominated for their performances as Leda Caruso in "The Lost Daughter", Best Actress nominee Olivia Colman and Best Supporting Actress nominee Jessie Buckley were the third pair of actresses nominated for portraying the same character in the same film. "Flee" became the first film to be nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best International Feature Film, and Best Documentary Feature in the same year.
Awards.
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Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡).
Governors Awards.
The Academy held its 12th annual Governors Awards ceremony on March 25, 2022, during which the following awards were presented:
Films with multiple nominations and awards.
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Presenters and performers.
The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.
Ceremony information.
In October 2021, the Academy hired film director and producer Will Packer and his production company chief of staff Shayla Cowan to oversee production of the 2022 ceremony. "Will is a powerhouse producer who has enjoyed success across all movie genres! He's already bringing a boundless energy and a focus on innovation to this year's Oscars, to entertain the widest spectrum of fans. Many wonderful surprises ahead," remarked Academy president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson. In response, Packer expressed his gratitude, saying: "The power, the beauty, the romance of the imagery in movies has always attracted me. I'm fully embracing the challenge of bringing an ode to one of the most iconic mediums in the world to life. What an honor." Four months later, actresses and comedians Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes were announced as hosts of the gala during an interview with Packer on "Good Morning America". This marked the first time that three people had shared hosting duties for the Oscars since Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn, and Paul Hogan presided over the 59th ceremony held in 1987.
This year, the show was centered around the theme "Movie Lovers Unite". In an interview with the "Los Angeles Times", Packer explained his reasoning behind the theme, stating: "Some are movie lovers who have seen every single one of the nominated movies, and they've got very specific opinions about who wins. And then you have people who are just casual moviegoers, who perhaps have not seen the awards fare but who also love movies. I'm inviting them in as well. They're just as important to me as a viewer. And I think we can have a show that does both. We can walk and chew gum at the same time." In tandem with the theme, several people from different backgrounds, such as firefighters and healthcare workers, participated in the nominations announcement. DJ Khaled introduced the hosts at the beginning of the telecast, and athletes Tony Hawk, Kelly Slater, and Shaun White introduced a montage saluting the 60th anniversary of the James Bond film franchise.
Also tying in with the ceremony's theme of "Movie Lovers Unite", the Academy teamed up with Twitter to host an " ;templatestyles src="Template:Visible anchor/styles.css" / ;Oscars Fan Favorite" contest, where Twitter users could vote for their favorite film of the year and their favorite movie moment. The contest drew a predominantly negative reaction from Academy members, with some comparing it to the "Popular Film" category initially proposed for the 91st ceremony held in 2019, and others viewing it as an attempt to recognize "" and its box office performance. Ultimately, "Army of the Dead" was named the Oscars Fan Favorite, while the Oscars Cheer Moment went to "Zack Snyder's Justice League" for "The Flash Enters the Speed Force". According to "TheWrap", the most active voters were autonomous web programs, although the Academy denied this claim.
The festivities marked their return to the Dolby Theatre after a one-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In compliance with Los Angeles County health and safety standards, AMPAS announced that attending nominees and guests would need to show proof of vaccination or a valid medical exemption, and two negative PCR tests, in order to attend. Presenters and performers underwent "rigorous testing" but were not required to be vaccinated. Audience members in sections closest to the stage were seated further apart but were not required to wear face masks. Masks were required for attendees in the mezzanine. Additionally, the annual Governors Awards was held on March 25, two days before the main ceremony, after previously being postponed from its original January 15 date due to concerns due to health and safety concerns related to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.
Production designer David Korins designed a new stage for the show. Music producer and songwriter Adam Blackstone served as musical director for the telecast and conductor for the orchestra, which featured musicians Travis Barker, Sheila E., and Robert Glasper. Rapper D-Nice served as an in-house DJ during the gala. As part of a continued focus on enhancing inclusion and accommodations for disabilities, the Academy offered a live feed of American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation for the ceremony through the Academy Awards' YouTube channel.
Rule and eligibility period changes.
In June 2020, the Academy announced that, starting with the 94th awards, a fixed number of ten films would once again be nominated for Best Picture. According to "The Hollywood Reporter", this rule change was initiated in order "to maximize the diversity of the films that are nominated for the Academy's highest honor" as part of the organization's Academy Aperture 2025 equity and inclusion initiative. Previously, AMPAS had experimented with a ten-film Best Picture slate for two years beginning with the 82nd ceremony in 2010 before changing the rules two years later so that a fluctuating number of films would be nominated depending on the nomination voting results.
Due to continued concerns stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Academy decided once again to allow films that were released via video on demand or streaming to be eligible for the awards on the condition that said films were originally scheduled to have a theatrical release prior to the start of the pandemic. However, only feature films released during the ten-month period in 2021 from March 1 to December 31 would be eligible for awards consideration.
Removal of categories from the broadcast.
The presentations and acceptance of eight awards (Best Animated Short Film, Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Film Editing, Best Live Action Short Film, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, and Best Sound) were not broadcast live but instead pre-taped an hour before the start of the telecast, in an attempt to "allow more time for comedy, film clips and musical numbers", and to shorten the ceremony; a similar move had been attempted for the 91st Academy Awards in 2019 but had been reversed after being negatively received. The decision was reportedly made under pressure from ABC executives, who had initially demanded that 12 categories be moved off the live broadcast, under the possible penalty of not airing the ceremony at all. Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa presented the awards off the air.
The move was quickly met with significant backlash. Following the announcement, Steven Spielberg said: "All of us are on the same line bringing the best of us to tell the best stories we possibly can. And that means for me we should all have a seat at the supper table together "live" at 5." More than 70 prominent film professionals—including Guillermo del Toro, James Cameron, Jane Campion, Denis Villeneuve, and John Williams—issued a letter urging the Academy to reverse the plan, which they argued would relegate some nominees to "the status of second-class citizens". Addressed to Academy President David Rubin, the letter claimed that the decision would do "irreparable damage" to the Oscars' reputation by "demeaning the very crafts that, in their most outstanding expressions, make the art of filmmaking worthy of celebration". Best Actress nominee (and eventual winner) Jessica Chastain decided to skip the red carpet and other press to ensure she was in the theater during the Makeup and Hairstyling category to support the team who worked with her on "The Eyes of Tammy Faye", stating: "The most important thing for me is to honor the incredible artisans who work in our industry." Sound engineer Tom Fleischman and production sound mixer Peter Kurland resigned from the Academy in protest of the new policy.
Chris Rock–Will Smith slapping incident.
During the presentation for Best Documentary Feature, actor Will Smith walked onstage and slapped presenter and comedian Chris Rock over a joke about the former's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Rock remarked: "Jada, I love you. "G.I. Jane 2", can't wait to see it," referencing the 1997 film "G.I. Jane" in which Demi Moore's character wears her hair in a buzz cut. Pinkett Smith was diagnosed with alopecia in 2018 and shaved her head due to the condition. The joke was ad-libbed by Rock and not part of his scripted remarks. After initially laughing, Smith rose