The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has set a new condition for Oscars 2026: members must watch all nominated films in a category before they can vote in it. The rule applies to the next ceremony, which will cover the 2025 film year and hand out statuettes in early 2026 — the 98th edition of the awards.

On its face, this is paperwork. In practice, it is a throttle on the laziest habit in the electorate: voting on reputation, campaign mailers and the occasional screener left half-finished.

How will the Academy know members actually watched?

The mechanism is the streaming platform the Academy already operates for members. Viewing happens there, and the platform records it. A member who has not logged a viewing of every nominee in a given category will find that category closed to them on the final ballot.

That covers the vast majority of cases, since most members watch contenders through the official portal rather than at public screenings.

What does the rule change in the race?

Plenty, and not symmetrically.

• Long lists get longer. A voter who must clear ten nominees before touching the Best Picture category now faces a heavier calendar in the six weeks or so between nominations and final ballots.
• Small films gain. Titles without studio marketing budgets previously lost votes to members who never pressed play. Under the new rule, the only ballot that counts is a watched ballot.
• International and documentary categories tighten. These fields already demand more viewing hours, and the requirement formalizes what their most engaged voters did voluntarily.
• Campaign spending shifts. Money that bought visibility may now buy less than patience; the screener that gets started matters only if it gets finished.

The voter who binge-watches in the final week still exists, of course. The rule mandates watching, not attention. But it removes the ballot cast purely on name recognition.

Why now?

The Academy has spent several years nudging its roughly 10,000-strong membership toward demonstrated viewing. Branch-by-branch attendance and participation requirements have tightened across recent cycles, and this measure extends the same logic to the final vote itself.

It also answers a persistent criticism: that outcomes in marquee categories can reflect campaign intensity more than viewing. Now, at minimum, every counted ballot represents a completed watchlist.

The verdict

A modest rule with disproportionate teeth. Nothing changes about who is nominated; everything changes about who is qualified to judge. For contenders without billboards on Sunset Boulevard, that is the most favorable rule change in years.