Starting in 2026, Academy members will only be able to vote for Oscars in categories in which they have seen all of the nominated films, the American Film Academy (AMPAS) announced on Monday.
Until now, it was only recommended that you watch all the nominees, and the Academy did not make it mandatory in most categories. There were two notable exceptions: Best Foreign Language Film (now Best International Feature Film) and Best Documentary Feature, in which for years only Academy members who could prove they had seen all five films were allowed to vote. During this time, according to the Wrap, there were also several big surprises, such as the upset when The Lives of Others beat Pan’s Labyrinth .
By extending the rule to all categories, they could cause more similar surprises, the paper writes, adding that this would likely significantly reduce the number of Oscar voters.
The new rule applies per category, so you still don’t have to watch every single nominee: members can stay in the categories in which they haven’t seen every film. In an average year, about 40 feature films and 15 short films receive nominations, and all nominees will be made available to Academy members on a dedicated platform, making it easier to watch and verify viewing in the future (although it will still be possible to verify if someone has seen the film elsewhere, such as in a cinema).
The Academy also shared a statement regarding artificial intelligence (this was a hot topic of discussion this year regarding the film Brutalist , in which Adrien Brody and his Hungarian accent were perfected with the help of AI).
As for generative AI and other digital tools used in the making of a film, the tools neither help nor hurt the chances of a nomination. The Academy and the individual branches consider the extent to which a film was at the center of creative authorship when selecting a film for the award.
– they wrote.
