Oscar Night TF2 Trailer?

November is the rumored time that the first official trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen might come out. Now Variety is suggesting that Oscar night on February 22nd could be a good day to premiere a TV trailer for the movie with a change in advertising rules for the program.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences board of governors voted Tuesday night to ease its longstanding ban on movie advertisements running in the Oscar telecast.

The board voted to allow a limited number of spots for movies that will not open until the last week of April at the earliest — meaning that none of the nommed pics can be tubthumped during the telecast, Acad prexy Sid Ganis told Daily Variety. Ads for sequels or prequels to pics in contention in the picture, docu and animation categories will not be allowed.

The showcase of never-before-seen spots for, say, next year’s tentpoles like "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," "G.I. Joe" and "Terminator Salvation," could be a highly promotable element for next year’s telecast — especially as the Oscars are looking to rebound from this year’s record-low aud of 32 million viewers.

Next year’s telecast is set for Feb. 22 on ABC. The "Dreamgirls" duo of Bill Condon and Laurence Mark have been tapped as first-time Oscarcast producers.

Among the Academy’s other rules for accepting movie ads:
- Will allow one spot per distributor, either 30 or 60 seconds in length.
- The spot must not have run anywhere else prior to its debut on the Oscarcast.
- The spot may not use the terms "Oscar" or "Academy Award."
- The spot may only promote one pic, not a slate of pics.
- There will only be one movie spot per commercial break during the three-hour telecast.