Hollywood’s biggest annual advertisement for itself — the Academy Awards broadcast — now can carry commercials for movies themselves.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences board voted to allow commercials for movies to air on the Oscar telecast for the first time starting with the Feb. 22 ceremony on ABC, academy spokeswoman Leslie Unger said Wednesday.
The vote Tuesday night lifts a ban on movie advertising that had been in place since the Oscars hit the airwaves in the early 1950s.
“This is an opportunity for there to be more entertainment content about movies in a show that’s celebrating movies,” Unger said.
The new rules will allow one spot per movie distributor during the Oscar show, and they must not have aired elsewhere previously. Commercials can promote only movies opening no earlier than the end of April, two months after the Oscars.
Studios also will not be allowed to use the terms Academy Awards or Oscars in them, and the commercials can promote only one movie, not a slate of films.
The ad ban had been in place for appearance’s sake, so viewers would not get the impression that studios paying for commercial time had any direct role in picking Oscar winners.
Oscar recipients are chosen through balloting by the 6,000-member academy, which includes actors, directors, writers, studio executives and other Hollywood professionals.
“Se7en” Turns 30, Gets A Special Restoration From David Fincher For Its Re-Release
For David Fincher, seeing “Se7en” in 4K was an experience he can only describe as harrowing. That or a high school reunion.
“There are definitely moments that you go, ‘What was I thinking?’ Or ‘Why did I let this person have that hairdo’?” Fincher said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
He’s OK with the film being a product of its time in most respects. But some things just could not stand in high-definition resolution.
“It was a little decrepit, to be honest,” said Fincher. “We needed to resuscitate it. There are things you can see in 4K HDR that you cannot see on a film print.”
Ever the perfectionist, he and a team got to work on a new restoration of the film for its 30th anniversary re-release. This weekend the restored “Se7en” will play on IMAX screens for the first time in the U.S. and Canada, and on Jan. 7, the 4K UHD home video version will be available as well.
The dark crime thriller written by Andrew Kevin Walker and starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as a pair of detectives looking for a serial killer was somewhat of a career-reviver for Fincher, whose directorial debut “Alien 3” had not gone well. “Se7en” was not a sure thing: It was made for only $34 million (and only got that when Fincher managed to persuade studio execs to give up $3 million more). But it went on to earn more than $327 million, not accounting for inflation, and continues to influence the genre.
Fincher has over the years overseen several restorations of the film (including one for laser disc) but decided this needed to be the last. It’s why he insisted on an 8K scan that they could derive the 4K from. He wanted to ensure that it wouldn’t have to be repeated when screens get more... Read More