The MTV Movie & TV Awards is a film and television awards show presented annually on MTV.[1] It began as the MTV Movie Awards in 1992, when its first edition was held, and adopted its current name in 2017, beginning with its 26th edition.[1]
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | |
|---|---|
 The "Golden Popcorn" awarded at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards. | |
| Awarded for | Film and television |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | MTV |
| First awarded | June 10, 1992 |
| Website | www.mtv.com/movie-and-tv-awards |
The awards ceremony has traditionally been tied to the start of the summer blockbuster season for the film industry, and since the launch of the television awards, the opening of that industry's awards season. The nominees are decided by producers and executives at MTV. The winners are then decided by the general public. Presently,[when?] voting is done only through an official MTV Movie & TV Awards voting website.[2] Winners are presented with the "Golden Popcorn" statue made by New-York-firm Society Awards.[3]
Production process
For much of its history, the ceremony was recorded for later broadcast, unlike the MTV Video Music Awards, which are usually live, but not live-to-tape, where the ceremony occurred in chronological order with appropriate edits. This meant that the ceremony was recorded out of order with the host segments recorded all at the start, followed by the musical performances and then award presentations, where those artists and actors nominated could choose to stay only for their award category and then depart after, with a seat filler filling their seat before or afterwards. After 2006, when Survivor producer Mark Burnett (who took over duties from Joel Gallen for the 2007 awards) took over production duties,[4] it began to be broadcast live most years, though since 2017, it has been recorded live-to-tape, with a one or two-day delay before airing.
Since 2007, polls for several awards have been voted on through MTV's web and social media presences.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 awards were cancelled.[5] Internally, the network had discussed a permanent move of the ceremony to December, which would place it in the early portion of awards season before the Golden Globe Awards.[6] Instead, MTV aired a Vanessa Hudgens-hosted clip show, MTV Movie & TV Awards: Greatest of All Time, on December 6, 2020, which featured highlights from past ceremonies and highlighted notable moments from film and television since the 1980s.[5]
The network stated that it aimed to hold a larger, weekend-long ceremony in 2021.[5] On March 11, 2021, MTV announced that the 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards would be held on May 16 and 17, 2021, with the first night focusing on films and scripted television, and a new, second night (MTV Movie & TV Awards: Unscripted) focusing exclusively on awards in reality television.[7] The 2022 ceremony maintained the split format, but with both segments airing back-to-back on a single night.[8][9] The 2023 ceremony was originally to be hosted by Drew Barrymore, but Barrymore and other planned guests dropped out in solidarity with the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. As a result, the in-person ceremony was cancelled and replaced by a pre-recorded virtual ceremony with no host.[10][11] In May 2024, MTV cancelled the 2024 edition, stating that the event was being retooled for 2025.[12]
Award categories
Current awards
| Category | Year(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Movie awards | ||
| Best Movie | 1992–present | |
| Best Performance in a Movie | 2017–present | |
| Movie & Television awards | ||
| Best Musical Moment | 2017–present | |
| Best Breakthrough Performance | 2017–present | known as "Next Generation" in 2017 |
| Best Comedic Performance | 2017–present | |
| Most Frightened Performance | 2017–present | |
| Best Hero | 2017–present | |
| Best Villain | 2017–present | |
| Best Kiss | 2017–present | |
| Best Fight | 2017–present | |
| Best Duo | 2017–present | known as "Best On-Screen Team" in 2018 and "Best Team" in 2022 |
| Television awards | ||
| Best Show | 2017–present | |
| Best Performance in a Show | 2017–present | |
| Best Host | 2017, 2019–present | |
| Best Competition Series | 2017, 2021–present | known as "Best Reality Competition" in 2017 |
| Best Docu-Reality Series | 2018–present | known as "Best Reality Series/Franchise" in 2018 and "Best Reality Royalty" in 2019 |
| Best Music Documentary | 2018, 2021–present | |
Retired awards
| Category | Year(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Movie awards | ||
| Best Male Performance | 1992–2016 | |
| Best Female Performance | 1992–2016 | |
| Best Song from a Movie | 1992–2002, 2005, 2009, 2012, 2013–2015 | known as "Best Musical Sequence" in 2000–2002 and 2005, "Best Music" in 2012, and "Best Musical Moment" in 2013–2015 |
| Best Breakthrough Performance | 1992–1998, 2006–2008, 2010–2016 | known as "Breakout Star" in 2011–2012 |
| Best Male Breakthrough Performance | 1999–2005, 2009 | |
| Best Female Breakthrough Performance | 1999–2005, 2009 | |
| Best New Filmmaker | 1992–2002 | |
| Most Desirable Male | 1992–1996 | |
| Most Desirable Female | 1992–1996 | |
| Best Action Sequence | 1992–2005 | |
| Best Dance Sequence | 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004 | |
| Best Comedic Performance | 1992–2017 | |
| Most Frightened Performance | 2005–2016 | |
| Best Hero | 2006, 2010–2016 | known as "Biggest Bad-Ass Star" in 2010–2011 |
| Best Villain | 1992–2016 | known as "Best On-Screen Dirt Bag" in 2012 |
| Best Kiss | 1992–2016 | |
| Best Fight | 1996–2016 | |
| Best On-Screen Duo | 1992–2006, 2013–2015 | |
| Best Sandwich in a Movie | 1996 | |
| Best Cameo | 2001–2004, 2014 | |
| Best Dressed | 2001, 2002 | |
| Best Virtual Performance | 2003, 2016 | |
| Best Video Game Based on a Movie | 2005 | |
| Best Filmmaker on Campus | 2006–2007 | known as "MTVU Student Filmmaker Award" in 2007 |
| Sexiest Performance | 2006 | |
| Dirtiest Mouth Moment | 2007 | |
| Spoof Award | 2007 | |
| Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet | 2007 | |
| Best Summer Movie So Far | 2008 | |
| Best WTF Moment | 2009–2015 | known as "Best Jaw-Dropping Moment" in 2011 and "Best Gut-Wrenching Performance" in 2012 |
| Best Latino Actor | 2011–2013 | |
| Best Line from a Movie | 2001–2002, 2011 | known as "Best Line" in 2001–2002 |
| Best Cast | 2012, 2016 | known as "Ensemble Cast" in 2016 |
| Best Shirtless Performance | 2013–2015 | |
| Best On-Screen Transformation | 2013–2014 | |
| Favorite Character | 2014 | |
| Summer's Biggest Teen Bad-Ass | 2013 | |
| Best Documentary | 2016–2017 | |
| Best Action Performance | 2016 | |
| True Story | 2016 | |
| Movie & Television awards | ||
| Most Meme-able Moment | 2017, 2019 | known as "Trending" in 2017 |
| Best Fight Against the System | 2017 | |
| Best American Story | 2017 | |
| Tearjerker | 2017 | |
| Scene Stealer | 2018 | |
| Best Real-Life Hero | 2019 | |
| Here For The Hookup | 2022 | |
| Television awards | ||
| Best Talk/Topical Show | 2021–2022 | |
| Best New Unscripted Series | 2021–2022 | |
| Best Lifestyle Show | 2021–2022 | |
| Best Real-Life Mystery or Crime Series | 2021 | |
| Best Comedy/Game Show | 2021 | |
| Best Dating Show | 2021 | |
| Best International Reality Series | 2021 | |
| Best Reality Fight | 2021–2022 | |
| Best Reality Romance | 2022 | |
| Best Reality Cast | 2021 | |
| Best Reality Return | 2022 | |
| Miscellaneous awards | ||
| Global Superstar | 2010 | |
| Breakthrough Social Star | 2021–2022 | |
Special awards
Lifetime Achievement Award
| Year | Recipient |
|---|---|
| 1992 | Jason Voorhees |
| 1993 | The Three Stooges |
| 1994 | John Shaft |
| 1995 | Jackie Chan |
| 1996 | Godzilla |
| 1997 | Chewbacca |
| 1998 | Clint Howard |
Silver Bucket of Excellence
| Year | Recipient | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | The Breakfast Club | awarded to Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy |
| 2006 | Do the Right Thing | awarded to Spike Lee |
Trailblazer Award
| Year | Recipient | Age Received |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Emma Stone | (23 years, 6 months, and 28 days) |
| 2013 | Emma Watson | (22 years, 11 months, and 30 days) |
| 2014 | Channing Tatum | (33 years, 11 months, and 13 days) |
| 2015 | Shailene Woodley | (23 years, 4 months, and 28 days) |
| 2018 | Lena Waithe | (34 years, 30 days) |
| 2019 | Jada Pinkett Smith | (47 years, 8 months, and 28 days) |
Comedic Genius Award
| Year | Recipient |
|---|---|
| 2013 | Will Ferrell |
| 2015 | Kevin Hart |
| 2016 | Melissa McCarthy |
| 2021 | Sacha Baron Cohen |
| 2022 | Jack Black |
| 2023 | Jennifer Coolidge |
Years
Records
Films that won Best Movie at the MTV Movie & TV Awards and Best Picture at the Academy Awards
- 1998: Titanic
- 2001: Gladiator
- 2004: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Franchise or film series that have won Best Movie more than once
- The Twilight Saga: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
- Marvel Cinematic Universe: Avengers (2013, 2019), Black Panther (2018), Spider-Man (2022)
- The Lord of the Rings: 2002, 2003, 2004
- Scream: 1997, 2023
Film parodies
Since 1993, scenes are spoofed, mostly from that year's most popular films, although television shows and older movies have also been chosen. This may include sound and video montages, replacing some of the original cast with other actors (commonly, the hosts of each year's show) generally mocking the scenes of that film. The diversity of the spoofs can vary greatly, from one dialogue (such as in 2005) to several long scenes, including fighting and action sequences (2003).
See also
Notes
References
- Steve Hochman, "Awards as American as 'Pie' and Other Silliness"; Television, L.A. Times, June 7, 2000, Calendar page 3;