When Is Oscars 2019 and How Can You Watch It Online For Free?

Quick Facts

Oscars 2019 (the Academy Award) will commemorate the 91st edition of Hollywood’s most prestigious honor as far as awards in the industry go. As usual, this year’s ceremony will see film industry legends and rising stars compete for the iconic golden statuette – the most coveted prize in the film business – on what is arguably the most glamorous night of the Hollywood calendar.

The ceremony organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) will celebrate the very best films made in 2018. The Oscars 2019 prize will be awarded to 24 different categories and the entire event will be broadcast in the United States by the American Broadcasting Company, with Glenn Weiss directing and producing the program alongside Donna Gigliotti.

The nominees for this year’s Oscars were announced by the beloved Black-ish star, and Kumail Nanjiani, comedian and star of HBO’s series, Silicon Valley, on January 22, 2019.

A lot of action is expected to go down at the glamorous event, especially with the wave of changes and activism that swept through the film industry in the last year. Speculation and excitement are at an all-time high, and questions are starting to swell in anticipation. Who will claim a controversial win? Whose painfully blunt speech will shake the venue and rile up audiences in the room and beyond? The answers will come to light in a few weeks. In the meantime, here is all you need to know about Oscars 2019.

When Is Oscars 2019? 

The 91st Academy Award Ceremony will be held on Sunday, February 24, 2019. Keeping in line with the decade-old tradition, the 2019 Oscars will unravel at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The event will be aired live in the States on ABC television network.

How Can You Watch It Online For Free?

Oscars 2019 is one of those must-watch events that you absolutely cannot afford to miss. Millions of viewers from all over the world will be waiting eagerly to stream the ceremony via cable networks and online channels. There are various options available for you to stream and watch the awards live without much stress. The event is scheduled to kickoff at 8 pm, but live coverage will begin at 6.30 pm or thereabout.

The ABC network is the official broadcast network for the event. You can watch the Oscars 2019 by visiting abc.com or through any of the ABC apps. If you’re unable to access ABC, there are other providers to fall back on such as Sling Television, YouTube TV, PlayStation Vue, Hulu, DirectTV, Fubo TV, M Net on DSTV, and Now TV.

Controversies And What To Expect

The Academy Award event is never without drama, and the 2019 edition is no exception. In August 2018, a new category called Best Popular Film was announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, to honor the best popular movies released in the previous year that did not achieve critical acclaim but nevertheless, found favor amongst the masses. However, this decision received a lot of backlash and criticism, as most people deemed it frivolous and unnecessary.

As a result, the Academy made another announcement a month later stating that the category will not be added, but the idea will be placed on the back burner and may be returned to in future after additional information has been sought and further examination of the merit of the new category has been carried out.

Meanwhile, merely three days after was announced as the host of the Oscar 2019 ceremony, the event took another hit from a fresh round of controversy, ending with the comedian declining the opportunity of a lifetime and career-defining moment, choosing instead to step down as this year’s host. A number of homophobic tweets and comments that Kevin made in the past resurfaced and this caused outrage in many quarters. The controversy gained more heat after a video of Kevin saying he would not apologize for the statements he made even though the Academy had asked him to do so began making the rounds on social media platforms.

Kevin tweeted that he would not be hosting the award as planned, and officially tendered an apology for the comments he made and how offensive and insensitive they were to the LGBTQ community. Anyway, , , , , , and other former hosts of the ceremony showed no interest in returning to the stage this year. Consequently, the Oscars will be held without a host for the first time in 30 years. Many still don’t know what to make about this, if it’s cool or not, we will all know after the 24th of February.

Although it is still uncertain how well Oscars 2019 would do without a host, it has been announced that a slew of presenters will be doing the honors this year. The celebrities lined up to present include , former best actress winners and , , , , Daniel Craig, previous Golden Globe hosts and comedians and , Amanda Sternberg, , and Crazy Rich Asians stars – and Awkwafina. As usual, the previous year’s winners will be returning to present the opposite awards, meaning last year’s best actress will present this year’s best actor his award and vice versa.

One of the most memorable parts of the Academy Awards is the musical performances. Following tradition, the nominees for Best Original Song will be providing the evening’s entertainment. Crowd favorites, and will take the stage once more to give another earthshattering performance of their nominated hit song, Shallow, from the movie A Star Is Born.

will also be performing I’ll Fight from the documentary RBG. Also, Gilliam Welch and David Rawlings are set to take the stage for a rendition of When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings from the adapted screenplay The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, while a special guest will be performing The Place Where Lost Things Go from Mary Poppins Returns.

Who Are The Nominees For Oscars 2019?

This year’s Oscars nominations mostly reflect the trends of the season. Roma, Alfonso Cuaron’s semi-autobiographical drama about a domestic worker and The Favourite, Yorgos Lanthimos’ fictionalized drama about Queen Anne’s relationship with her assistants are leading the group with 10 nominations in categories like Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Picture, and Best Director. A Star Is Born and Vice are next in line with 8 nominations including Best Picture.

Behind them is Black Panther with 7 nominations including Best Picture, making history as the first superhero movie to be included in this regard. The other contenders for Best Picture are Blackkklansman, Green Book, and Bohemian Rhapsody. The big prize sees (The Favourite), (The Wife), (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), film debutants Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born) and Yalitza Aparicio (Roma) vying for Best Actress. This year’s recipients of Best Actor nominations are (At Eternity’s Gate), Christian Bale (Vice), (Bohemian Rhapsody), Viggo Mortensen (Green Book), and (A Star Is Born).

(Vice), Rachel Weisz (The Favourite), (The Favourite), (If Beale Street Could Talk) and Marina De Tavira (Roma) are the nominees for Best Supporting Actress. Meanwhile, Best Supporting Actor is being keenly contended by (Green Book), Richard E Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), and (Vice). Others are (Blackkklansman) and  (A Star Is Born),

Female directors are completely absent from the Oscars 2019 Best Director category which features (Blackkklansman), Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite), Adam McKay (Vice), Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War), and Alfonso Cuaron (Roma).

Is Oscars Different From The Golden Globes And The Emmys?

Even as the Golden Globes and the Emmys are very much similar, they differ in various respect ranging from their origins to their essence. While the Oscars is an award conferred yearly by AMPAS to honor outstanding performance in the respective facets of the movie industry, the Emmys are awarded by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) to celebrate excellence in the many aspects of television and broadband programming.

Unlike the others, Golden Globes are meant to recognize exceptional achievements across the globe in both television and motions pictures. The accolade is conferred by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). For more details, check out this piece – 

Fun Facts To Know About The Academy Award

1. Tatum O’Neal is the youngest winner of the award, she bagged Best Supporting Actress for her role in 1973’s Paper Moon when she was only 10.

2. At the other end, Christopher Plummer is the oldest winner of the accolade; when he was 82, he picked up the honor as Best Actor In A Supporting Role. This was for his role in 2010’s Beginners.

3. Did you know that Adrien Brody is the youngest Best Actor winner of the award? He attained this feat when he was 29, thanks to his role in 2002’s The Pianist.

4. The first child actor to gain an Oscar nomination was Jackie Cooper. He was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role when he was only 9. This was for his role in a comedy film, Skippy (1931).

5. The only deaf performer to win the award is Marlee Matlin. She won the award in 1987 for her role in 1986’s Children of a Lesser God.

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