Hollywood’s biggest night is getting a new address. On Thursday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that the Oscars will move from their longtime home at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre to the Peacock Theater, located in downtown Los Angeles’s L.A. Live complex.
The show’s inaugural production at L.A. Live will take place in 2029, coinciding with the Oscars’s first year on airing on YouTube instead of its longtime broadcast network, ABC. The relocation is part of a partnership agreement with the entertainment company AEG, which will run through 2039. AEG owns and operates L.A. Live.
The Dolby Theatre has been the Oscars’ home for more than two decades.
The Dolby Theatre, nestled on Hollywood Boulevard among glitzy landmarks like the Walk of Fame, the TCL Chinese Theatre, and the El Capitan Theatre, has hosted the Oscars since 2002. But staging the show there has required extensive street closures and heavy security measures, according to the L.A. Times.
Inside the Peacock Theater.
Meanwhile, L.A. Live’s 4-million-square-foot, campus-style layout clusters performance venues, restaurants, hotels, and event spaces within walking distance. Adjacent to the Crypto.com Arena and the Los Angeles Convention Center, it regularly hosts major events, including the Grammys and Emmys.
A public square located within the L.A. Live complex.
The Peacock Theater also significantly expands capacity, with 7,100 seats—more than double the Dolby Theatre’s 3,400—offering more room for an Academy membership that now exceeds 11,000 people. Ahead of the move, the theater will also receive “comprehensive enhancements,” including “upgrades to its stage, sound and lighting systems, lobbies, backstage facilities, and additional production-critical areas,” according to a press release.
The Emmys are held at the Peacock Theater, which neighbors the JW Marriott at the L.A. Live complex.
In a joint statement, Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor said AEG is known for “building and operating technologically sophisticated live performance venues,” adding that they want L.A. Live to be “the perfect backdrop for our global celebration of cinema.”
Brea Cubit is an award-winning journalist who covers culture, entertainment, fashion, business, and more. When she’s not writing and editing, she enjoys listening to live music, binge-watching nostalgic TV, and shopping at artisan markets.
Credit: Source link