The biggest night in film has arrived, bringing with it the annual mix of frontrunners, underdogs, and long shots as Hollywood steps onto the red carpet in its finest looks, all chasing that coveted Oscar.
Ahead of the ceremony, plenty will be looking to halt Ryan Coogler’s vampire horror Sinners from turning its record-setting 16 Academy Award nominations into a major haul. Paul Thomas Anderson’s black comedy One Battle After Another is also a heavyweight this year, having picked up nominations in 13 categories.
Still, as roughly 50 statuettes are presented across 24 awards—honouring everything from makeup to the headline best picture prize—many viewers don’t realise the trophies come with firm conditions.
The Academy has long enforced a set of rules that spell out what winners can and can’t do with their Oscar, and at least one of those restrictions is unusually strict. These regulations have even been challenged in court, and upheld.
In almost every situation, Oscar recipients are not permitted to sell their Academy Award—or otherwise dispose of it. This policy has been in place since 1951, though there is a single exception built into the rule.
It may sound odd that a rule like this is required for the famously prized “Awards of Merit,” which have been handed out annually since the ceremony began in 1929.
But there are scenarios where a statuette could end up in different hands, most commonly through inheritance after a winner dies. The Academy does not object to that transfer, provided the person who receives it doesn’t try to sell it.
Financial pressure can also tempt people to cash in. However, under the Academy’s regulations, a sale is prohibited unless the owner first offers the statuette back to the Academy for a token amount: one dollar.
The rules say: “Award winners shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the Oscar statuette, nor permit it to be sold or disposed of by operation of law, without first offering to sell it to the Academy for the sum of $1.00.”
The policy has been tested publicly in the courts. Joseph Tutalo sold the Oscar his uncle—Joseph Wright—won in 1943 for $79,200, prompting the Academy to sue both Tutalo and the auction house for breach of contract.
A California judge sided with the Academy and ordered the buyer to return the statuette.
The website adds: “This provision shall apply also to the heirs and assigns of Academy Award winners who may acquire a statuette by gift or bequest.”
Even so, there are cases showing the Academy can be flexible. In 1999, Michael Jackson was allowed to buy the best picture Oscar awarded to David Selznick in 1939—paying a reported $1.5 million.