ABC Confirms 2024 Oscars Will Air in Earlier Timeslot

ABC has announced a change for the 2024 Oscars, as the event will air on Sunday, March 10th, and for the first time will start at 7 PM coast to coast. The half-hour pre-show will start at 6:30 PM, and the main event is slated to end at 10:30 PM EST. That will be immediately preceded by an original episode of Abbott Elementary, and for those in the Pacific time zone, The Oscars will be rebroadcast in primetime after the live presentation ends. Emmy Award-winning late-night host Jimmy Kimmel will return to host the show for the fourth time, and Raj Kapoor will serve as showrunner, but will also be executive producer alongside Molly McNearney and Katy Mullan. The 2024 Oscars will be directed by Hamish Hamilton (via The Futon Critic).

Kimmel first hosted the event in 2017 and then returned to host in 2018 and 2023. With his hosting role in 2024, Kimmel joins Whoopi Goldberg and Jack Lemon, who each hosted four times as well. There are only three people who have hosted The Oscars more than those three, and that small list includes Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal, and Bob Hope. Carson hosted five times, while Crystal hosted nine times. Hope holds the record, as he hosted 19 times.

Kimmel addressed the viral event from the previous year's Oscars during his last hosting stint, that being the infamous moment that had Will Smith slapping Chris Rock on stage. For this year's monologue, Kimmel is likely to bring up the writers' and actors' strikes, which lasted for quite some time and brought Hollywood to a halt while negotiations were taking place.

For the awards themselves, films that are likely going to be in the mix are Killers of the Flower Moon, Barbie, Oppenheimer, Poor Things, and Maetro, though Barbie and Oppenheimer are very much expected to be big winners in nominations. It remains to be seen if they will come away with a number of awards of course, but we'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, you can find out more about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences below.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is home to a global membership of more than 10,500 of the most accomplished film industry artists and leaders. The Academy recognizes and celebrates all aspects of the arts and sciences of moviemaking through renowned awards for cinematic achievement, including the Oscars(R). With the world's largest film museum and collection, the Academy preserves our cinematic history and presents honest and powerful programs about cinema's past, present, and future. Across all initiatives, the Academy connects global audiences – its members, the film industry, and film fans – through their shared passion for making and watching films.

Are you excited for this year's Oscars? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things TV with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!