The first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929 to honor cinematic achievements was just 15 minutes long. Modern versions of the ceremony, also referred to as the Oscars, are often at least three hours long. The original ceremony gave out awards in 12 categories, including one that was never included in any other Academy Awards since: Best Unique and Artistic Quality of a Production. The second shortest Academy Awards ceremony was in 1956, and lasted just 90 minutes, while the longest ceremony was in 2002 and lasted four hours and 23 minutes.
More about the Academy Awards:
- If an Academy Award winner wants to sell his or her statuette, the recipient must first offer it to the Academy with an asking price of $1 US Dollar (USD).
- The record for most Academy Awards for a single film is 11 and the honor is shared by three films: Ben-Hur, Titanic, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
- Although it has been claimed that the televised Academy Award ceremonies have up to 1 billion viewers, the highest viewership figures on record are approximately 52 million, for the 1998 ceremony.