Oscars
For the next three years, the Academy Awards ceremony will remain in its late-February/early-March spot on the calendar. Reuters

Movie lovers who cannot wait for the next Oscars can now mark the date. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has released the dates for the ceremony for the next three years, dispelling rumors that the show would air earlier in the awards season in 2016.

According to the Wrap, next year’s Academy Awards ceremony will take place on Feb. 28. In 2017 the show will air on Feb. 26 and in 2018 it will be pushed back to March 4. The later date of the 2018 ceremony is to accommodate the Winter Olympics; the March date prevents a conflict with the closing ceremonies of the games.

Many had speculated that the academy would move the date of the ceremony up earlier in the year to prevent viewer fatigue after so many other award shows. However, these dates stick to the time frame the show has kept for the past few years. That means it will remain just as difficult for summer releases to maintain momentum to compete come Oscar time. At this year's ceremony, "Boyhood," which had emerged as the front-runner when it was released last summer, lost out to the October release “Birdman” for Best Picture.

The academy set some other key dates for the 2016 awards. Nomination voting will begin on Dec. 30 and the nominees will be announced on Jan. 14. Voting for the winners will take place between Feb. 12 and Feb. 23.

While awards season and the Oscar race still are months away, it's never too early to start getting excited. With festival season in full swing – the Tribeca Film Festival takes place this week in New York – many of next year’s contenders already are emerging. Feb. 28 cannot come soon enough!

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