The Academy Awards’ 2029 transformation will be even more dramatic than anticipated. Not only will the show move from ABC to YouTube, but the event will also take place at a completely new location: LA Live.
The Academy has struck a new multiyear deal with AEG that will see the Oscars move to the venue in Downtown Los Angeles in 2029 and remain there through 2039. The Oscar ceremony will be held in the venue currently known as the Peacock Theater.
As part of the deal, the Peacock Theater will get a facelift, including upgrades to its stage, sound and lighting systems, lobbies, backstage facilities, and additional production-critical areas. The red carpet will be based at LA Live’s recently expanded plaza.
“For the 101st Oscars and beyond, the Academy looks forward to closely collaborating with AEG to make LA Live the perfect backdrop for our global celebration of cinema, both for our live in-theater audience and for film fans around the world,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy president Lynette Howell Taylor said in a statement.
The Oscars have been held at their current location, the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, since 2002. Previously known as the Kodak Theatre, the Hollywood venue was conceived and designed with the idea that it would be the long-term home of the Oscars.
While the Oscars have been held downtown before, previously inhabiting the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Shrine Auditorium, the Dolby Theatre has been synonymous with the event for the past two decades. The venue lists every best-picture winner on columns that line the entrance to its red carpet, and tourists often stop to get their photos taken on the iconic steps leading up to the theater.
The Oscar ceremony also had the Dolby Theatre all to itself. Because no other major awards show used the venue, attending the Oscars always felt like a unique experience to wrap up a protracted awards season. LA Live’s 23-acre, 4 million-square-foot sports and entertainment district will give the event a lot more space to work with—the Peacock Theater holds 7,100 seats, compared to the Dolby’s capacity of 3,400 seats—but it won’t be dedicated solely to the Academy Awards: The complex is already used for the Emmys.
As previously announced, the Academy will move the Oscars off broadcast TV in 2029 and shift to YouTube, a move that will likely help the show’s viewership, as global audiences will have an easier time tuning in from all over the world.
The Academy has been very focused on making sure that 2028’s 100th Academy Awards feel important. Now, with two major changes coming to the show the following year, that ceremony will truly feel like the end of an era.
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