This Feb. 8, 2016 file photo shows a giant Oscar statuette at the 88th Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. Next year’s The 91st Academy Awards will be held on Feb. 24, 2019. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Invision/AP, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) --
Next year's Oscars season has been set, with several events leading up to the broadcast of the 91st Academy Awards on Feb. 24, 2019.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced key dates during the season on Monday, including the handing out of its honorary Oscars, the Governors Awards, on Nov. 18.
Nominations will be announced on Jan. 22, and scientific and technical awards will be bestowed during a Feb. 9 gala.
The Oscars are traditionally handed out in February, but were bumped to March this year due to the Winter Olympics.
This year's Oscars reached 26.5 million viewers, easily a record low for what is often the second most-watched program of the year after the Super Bowl.
"The Shape of Water" won this year's best picture award.
This image released by Hallmark Media shows Hunter King, left, and Tyler Hynes in a scene from "Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story. (Joshua Haines/Hallmark Media via AP)
Two new Christmas TV movies have a Taylor Swift connection that her fans would have no problem decoding.
"Christmas in the Spotlight" debuts Saturday on Lifetime. It stars Jessica Lord as the world's biggest pop star and Laith Wallschleger as a pro football player, who meet and fall in love — not unlike Swift and her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
"It's clearly inspired by Taylor and Travis, but I don't know them and I don't know what is going on behind the scenes. I only know what's been put out there," said Eirene Tran Donohue, a longtime, devoted fan who jumped at the opportunity to write a script even loosely based on her favorite musician.
She was inspired by the couple's support of each other's accomplishments, particularly Kelce's ease with dating the star despite the glare of the spotlight, adding, "I love the way that he celebrates her."
Tran Donohue wants fellow Swift fans to know she wrote the script with them in mind.
"There are so many Easter eggs," she said of little details added that a Swift fan would pick up on. "I put in as many as I could."
Then, on Nov. 30, Hallmark will air "Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story." Instead of a nod to Swift, it's an ode to family traditions and bonding, like rooting for a sports team. Hallmark's headquarters is also in Kansas City, so it makes sense why the company chose the Chiefs to be highlighted.
In this story, written by Julie Sherman Wolfe, sparks fly when a new employee for the Chiefs organization (Tyler Hynes) meets a woman — played by Hunter King — whose family's dedication to the team goes back generations.
Sherman Wolfe, a San Francisco 49ers fan, said she got the call a week after Super Bowl LVIII, when the Chiefs... Read More
