The 2022 Oscars Release Date, Host, And Nominees - What We Know So Far

Even after all the controversies, live gaffes, ratings woes, institutional overhauls, and backstage wars that they've gone through in the past couple of decades, one thing remains true: the Oscars are still the Oscars. No other award in the arts and entertainment world compares to it in scale, prestige, or cultural ubiquity; even with the across-the-board decreases in viewership numbers for live television in the 21st century, the Academy Awards still remain the most-watched awards show by a huge margin (via Vulture).

Nevertheless, due to a variety of economic and industrial circumstances, the upcoming 94th Academy Awards arrive amid a climate of uncertainty, insecurity, and bitter infighting. Following the abysmal ratings for last year's pandemic-affected ceremony, the many organizations and corporations with a hand in the Oscars' planning and execution have been struggling to find a way to recoup audience interest for this year's edition, leading to some very divisive production choices. By the looks of it, the 2022 Oscars will be unlike any other in history, for better or worse, and their future as an institution will be hanging in the balance.

In other words, if you care at all about the Oscars, this won't be an edition to miss. So here's everything you need to know about when the 2022 ceremony will be taking place, who will be appearing in it, and which nominated films and performers you should look out for.

In 2021, the Oscars happened much later in the year than usual, due to a controversial decision by the Academy to extend the eligibility period to January and February 2021 in addition to the 2020 calendar year. This year, however, the anticlimactic oddness of an Oscars ceremony in late April will thankfully be rolled back. Returning to their usual first-trimester timetable, the 94th Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 27, 2022.

In another long-awaited return to normalcy, the setting for the ceremony will be the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center, in Los Angeles, California (via Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Since the Oscars are broadcast live all over the world, their airtime will vary depending on where you're watching them from. In Los Angeles, the red carpet coverage will start at 3:30 p.m., and the ceremony will commence at 5 p.m. In Eastern time, therefore, look for red carpet proceedings to begin at 6:30 p.m., and for the ceremony proper to start at 8 p.m.

As longtime followers know, the Oscars ceremony tends to last around three hours and change, sometimes a little more. This year's producers have been making all sorts of promises to trim the running time, but don't expect any drastic cutdowns — the Oscars have always been bloated and lengthy by nature. It's part of their charm.

Following a three-year streak of the Academy experimenting with host-free ceremonies, this year's Oscars will bring back official emceeing duties in addition to the individual award and segment presenters. This time, there will be a three-woman hosting team, consisting of actresses and comedians Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall, and Amy Schumer (via Deadline). The ceremony will be structured into three acts of approximately one hour each, with one host presiding over each act (via The Hollywood Reporter).

In addition to the hosts, confirmed presenters for the ceremony also include Lady Gaga, Zoë Kravitz, Simu Liu, Kevin Costner, Lily James, Chris Rock, Uma Thurman, Rami Malek, John Leguizamo, Rosie Perez, Ruth E. Carter, and Chloé Zhao. As tradition commands, last year's four acting winners — Frances McDormand, Anthony Hopkins, Youn Yuh-jung, and Daniel Kaluuya — will also be returning to the Oscar stage to pass the torch to this year's winners in the opposite-gendered categories to the ones they each won (via Deadline).

Last but not least, the Academy has not yet confirmed whether there will be performances of this year's Best Original Song nominees as in previous years and whether the performers will be the ones who sing the songs in question in their movies. If that proves to be the case, expect to see performances by Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Sebastián Yatra, Reba McEntire, and Van Morrison at the 2022 ceremony.

The 10 films nominated for the Oscars' main category, Best Picture, are "Belfast," "CODA," "Don't Look Up," "Drive My Car," "Dune," "King Richard," "Licorice Pizza," "Nightmare Alley," "The Power of the Dog," and "West Side Story." Out of those, "The Power of the Dog" leads the pack with a whopping total of 12 nominations, followed closely by "Dune" with 10. "Belfast" and "West Side Story" are tied for third place with seven nods.

Kenneth Branagh ("Belfast"), Ryusuke Hamaguchi ("Drive My Car"), Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza), Jane Campion ("The Power of the Dog"), and Steven Spielberg ("West Side Story") are the nominees in the prestigious Best Director category.

In the acting categories, meanwhile, the contenders are Jessica Chastain in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," Olivia Colman in "The Lost Daughter," Penélope Cruz in "Parallel Mothers," Nicole Kidman in "Being the Ricardos," and Kristen Stewart in "Spencer" for Best Actress. In the Best Actor field, Javier Bardem in "Being the Ricardos," Benedict Cumberbatch in "The Power of the Dog," Andrew Garfield in "Tick, Tick... Boom!," Will Smith in "King Richard," and Denzel Washington in "The Tragedy of Macbeth" are the ones vying for the statuette.

The full list of nominees for the 94th Oscars can be read on the Academy website.