100th Academy Awards (Centennial Oscars)

What this countdown tracks

The 100th Academy Awards are scheduled for Sunday, March 5, 2028 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood — a centennial edition honoring films released in calendar year 2027. The ceremony marks a century since the first Academy Awards, a private banquet held May 16, 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. This is also the final Oscars under the ABC broadcast contract signed in 2014, with the network's current rights extension expiring after the show.

Background

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded May 4, 1927 under Louis B. Mayer and incorporated in California; its first awards ceremony took place two years later. The 100th Oscars falls in the Academy's 101st membership year. CEO Bill Kramer and President Janet Yang have publicly signaled multi-year planning for the centennial, including an expanded Academy Museum programming slate at the Saban Building on Wilshire Boulevard, which opened September 30, 2021 after a $484 million construction project. The date — Sunday, March 5, 2028 — was disclosed by Variety in March 2026 alongside the 99th ceremony's March 14, 2027 slot. The 100th Oscars will be conducted under the inclusion standards for Best Picture that took effect at the 96th ceremony, now codified across all eligible submissions, and will include the new Casting Achievement Oscar introduced at the 98th. Broadcast rights conversations for the post-2028 cycle have been in exploratory phase, with the Academy reportedly engaging streaming partners alongside ABC. Voting membership stands at roughly 11,000 across 19 branches, the largest and most internationally distributed in the organization's history. Historians note that the first Oscars in 1929 took 15 minutes to hand out 12 awards before an audience of roughly 270 dinner guests — a far cry from the three-and-a-half-hour global broadcast that now reaches nearly 200 countries. The centennial is expected to feature an extensive use of the Academy's film-preservation archive, housing more than 230,000 films.

Why the date matters

March 5 is earlier in the calendar than most 21st-century Oscars, reflecting Academy scheduling choices designed to compress the awards-season campaign and reduce voter fatigue. The centennial ceremony doubles as a narrative moment for the Academy to showcase its museum, archive, and international membership expansion. It also concludes the current media-rights era, making the broadcast production itself historically significant regardless of the on-stage winners, and sits three weeks after Super Bowl LXII for a densely packed Q1 tentpole calendar.

What to watch for

• Centennial-themed opening number and retrospective clip reel
• Post-2028 broadcast-rights announcement timing and partner identity
• Legendary presenters invited for the 100-year milestone
• Academy Museum tie-in programming and special exhibitions
• Honorary Oscars and Governors Awards recipients
• New Achievement in Casting category competitive field
• Any format experimentation unique to the centennial show
• Live global streaming availability beyond traditional ABC broadcast

Related events to track

The centennial ceremony is the direct successor to Oscars 2027 (99th Academy Awards), with the Academy's planning cycle closely linking the two shows. The 2028 entertainment calendar is bracketed by Super Bowl LXII 2028 three weeks earlier and the LA28 Olympics Opening Ceremony four months later, making Los Angeles the world's de facto spectacle capital that year.

FAQ

When exactly is Oscars 2028? Sunday, March 5, 2028, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Is Oscars 2028 confirmed or expected? Confirmed by the Academy in a March 2026 date announcement.

Who is responsible for Oscars 2028? The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; the show airs live on ABC under the current broadcast rights deal.

Where can I read the official announcement? The 100th ceremony date is documented at https://variety.com/2026/film/awards/oscars-2027-2028-ceremony-dates-march-1236710777/.