Gothams Open the Season: The Full Road to the 99th and 100th Oscars

The 99th Oscars land on March 14, 2027, and the season that decides them begins in earnest on Tuesday, Oct. 27, when the Gotham Film Awards announce their nominations — the earliest honors on the board for independent and commercial talent alike. Between those two dates sit roughly five months of guild votes, televised precursors and three separate rounds of Academy balloting, and the Academy has now dated nearly all of them.

The backdrop is a transition. In March 2026, AMPAS announced that the Oscars will leave ABC for YouTube and move from the Dolby Theatre to the Peacock Theater starting with the 101st ceremony in 2029. So the 99th and 100th editions are the last two under the old broadcast arrangement — a farewell tour with a full calendar attached.

Who is hosting, and what changes at the podium?

Conan O'Brien returns for a third turn as host, after drawing acclaim at the 97th and 98th ceremonies in 2025 and 2026. Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan are producing the 99th ceremony. Hosting three consecutive Oscars is rare territory; the Academy clearly likes the numbers he delivers.

The 100th Oscars, set for March 5, 2028 — one week earlier than its predecessor — will also introduce a new category: Best Stunt Design. It is the first new competitive branch-adjacent category in years and gives action craftsmanship a direct route to an Academy Award for the centennial edition.

Why is the 99th Oscars on March 14?

Blame the road closures. The L.A. Marathon, which runs through the heart of Hollywood, is scheduled for March 7, 2027 — and the Academy evidently preferred a one-week buffer over a collision of barricades and ball gowns. Hence a mid-month ceremony date, with final voting closing March 4 at 5 p.m. PT.

What does the season calendar actually look like?

The precursor sequence now runs as follows, per the current schedule (ceremonies listed plainly, nomination announcements noted):

• Oct. 7 — CSA Artios nominations (TV); Academy Museum Gala
• Oct. 22 — Cinema Eye Honors nominations, first round
• Oct. 27 — Gotham Film Awards nominations
• Nov. 12 — Cinema Eye Honors nominations, second round
• Nov. 15 — Governors Awards
• Dec. 4 — Critics Choice nominations
• Dec. 8 / Dec. 11 — PGA nominations (documentary/innovation, then sports, children's and short form)
• Dec. 15 — Oscar shortlists
• Dec. 16, 18, 21 — CSA Artios (film), CDG and MUAHS nominations
• Jan. 3 — Critics Choice Awards ceremony
• Jan. 6–8 — DGA (TV, then film), BAFTA longlists, ADG, WGA and PGA nominations; Astra Awards Jan. 6; Palm Springs film awards Jan. 7 (festival runs Jan. 7–18); BAFTA Tea Party Jan. 9
• Jan. 10 — Golden Globes ceremony

Then the voting window tightens. Oscar nominations voting runs Jan. 11, 9 a.m. PT, to Jan. 15, 5 p.m. PT — five days in which nearly every craft guild also declares. The cluster:

• Jan. 11–14 — MPSE, CAS, ASC and ACE nominations
• Jan. 19 — BAFTA and VES nominations; Annie nominations Jan. 20
• Jan. 21 — Oscar nominations announced; Sundance opens (runs to Jan. 31)
• Jan. 30 — DGA Awards

February is for statues: ACE on Feb. 6, WGA on Feb. 13, the Nominees Luncheon Feb. 16, then VES, Artios, MUAHS, the Annies, BAFTA (Feb. 21), CDG (Feb. 25), PGA and ADG (Feb. 27), and the Actor Awards, presented by SAG-AFTRA, on Feb. 28 — the last major bellwether before final voting opens the same week it has for years.

Final Oscar voting runs Feb. 25, 9 a.m. PT, to March 4, 5 p.m. PT. CAS, the Spirit Awards, MPSE and ASC all hand out trophies March 6–7, seven to eight days before the Academy's envelope. The season closes, for completists, on April 24 with the AFI Life Achievement Award to Tom Cruise.

And the 100th year?

The 2028 calendar is thinner so far, but the pattern holds: the Spirit Awards on Feb. 19, PGA on Feb. 19, the Actor Awards on Feb. 20, CAS on Feb. 26 and MPSE on Feb. 27, all funneling toward the March 5 centenary ceremony. More dates will be added as organizers confirm them; the calendar was last updated Oct. 26.

The strategic read: shortlists on Dec. 15 and nominations on Jan. 21 mean campaigners have a compressed six-week corridor to convert precursor momentum. The Globes on Jan. 10 and the Actor Awards on Feb. 28 remain the two loudest signals flanking the voting windows. Nothing here surprises. Everything here constrains.