Little by little, the Oscars are being whittled away.
News today: starting in 2029, when the Oscars turn 101, they will move from a custom made theater in the heart of Hollywood to a dreary theater in a tacky downtown mall.
The Oscars used to presented in the Shrine Auditorium or Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The latter is a beautiful venue, a real theater with some soul.
In 2002, the show moved to Hollywood and Highland’s Kodak Theater, owned by Philip Anschutz of AEG. The theater was renamed for Dolby when Kodak mostly disappeared. And there the Oscars have thrived for 24 years.
Today the Motion Picture Academy announced the Academy Awards leaving the Dolby, which is in the center of Hollywood. Where are they going? To another much less glamorous property.
The Peacock Theater is in the middle of LA Live, a tacky mall and food court that abuts the former Staples Center aka the Crypto.com Center. The Peacock is where the Emmys are held, and the pre-Grammys event. It has no history and the charm of a big box.
Anschutz — no longer the owner of the Dolby, long story — obviously wanted the Oscars back in one of his properties. This also suggests that the Oscars Governors Ball will be held in the cavernous LA Convention Center, like the Emmys after party and the Grammys’ Musicares gala. Glamorous is not a word that comes to mind.
LA Live can be a two hour drive from Beverly Hills at rush hour. It’s as far from the hot center of Hollywood and its history as Des Moines. Shutting the whole 23 acre campus down for the Oscars should be a challenge. That is, unless the Oscars don’t mind civilians in shorts and Rush t shirts finishing their Smashburgers and wandering over to the red carpet.
AEG says it’s going to fix up the Peacock Theater — formerly the Nokia and also Microsoft Theater — to make it more acceptable to the Oscars. Maybe they will. One thing’s for certain– the Peacock has twice the capacity of the Dolby at 7,100. Maybe I’ll be able to get a ticket again. In that case, this is a good plan!
