Interesting facts and numbers about the Oscars you probably didn’t know

Andrea PérezDeputy Editor - U.S.

APRIL 21, 2021 2:22 PM EDTAPR 21, 2021, 2:22 PM EDT

This week, WalletHub released its 2021 Oscars Facts report, which was filled with some pretty juicy info for those of us who love numbers and facts. It not only gave us an inside look into how much actual money it costs to run this iconic annual award show, from how much is spent on fashion, goodie-bags to the red carpet, the report also shared some really fascinating facts about this year’s nominations.

All about the money

The Oscars ceremony cost about 20 million US dollars

$40M+ is the estimated total cost of the Oscars’ ceremony
$129M is roughly the amount of ad revenue that ABC is expecting to make on Oscar Sunday
$2M is the cost of a 30-second commercial during the Oscars, that’s 64% less than the cost of an ad during the Super Bowl

The red carpet and goodie-bag

82nd Annual Academy Awards Arrivals — 18 crew members spend about 900 hours to install the red carpet

$24.7K is the cost of the 50,000-square-foot Oscars red carpet and it takes 900 hours to install the red carpet with an average of 18 crew members
The average value of an Oscar‘s goodie bag is about $225k
The most expensive goodie-bag item ever was a 12 day cruise on the Scenic Eclipse Yacht

86th Annual Academy Awards Press Room — $10M is the average cost of the look for an A list actress attending the Oscars.

$10M is the average cost of the look for an A-list actress attending the Oscars and the average spend of other attendees is $1.5 million for their red carpet looks.
Cate Blanchett wore the most expensive attire in Oscar’s history, at $18.1M. While most of that figure we attributed to the jewelry she wore, her Armani Privé dress was also worth $100,000 and made with Swarovski crystals.

Yes! women are breaking Oscars’ glass ceilings

Emerald Fennell and Chole Zhao are the first women to be nominated for best director in the history

32%: Share of this year’s Oscar nominees who are women (highest percentage ever).
70 women received a total of 76 nominations this year
2 women are up for best director this year for the first time in history:
- Emerald Fennell
- Chole Zhao
New members were added to the Academy in 2020 and 45% of them are women

Diversity is is making history

Actors of color are nominated this year, setting a new record

Steven Yeun is the 1st Asian American actor to ever be recognized in the best actor category
9 actors of color are nominated this year, setting a new record
- Steven Yeun
- Viola Davis
- Leslie Odom Jr.
- Chadwick Boseman
- Andra Day
- Daniel Kaluuya
- LaKeith Stanfield
- Riz Ahmed
- Youn Yuh-Jung