Oscar Countdown: Sherak On Kodak Theatre’s New Name, Show Ratings And Star Power
| Wednesday February 22, 2012 @ 12:57am PST
Word is CIM, the landlord for the Hollywood and Highland complex where the Oscars are held has asked the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences NOT to announce on air
that the awards are coming from the Kodak Theatre. Instead the Academy
opening announcement will say it is being broadcast live from Hollywood
and Highland Center in Hollywood, California. “That is what the
landlord has asked us to do and we are gonna do it,” said Academy
President Tom Sherak during a pre-taping of KABC’s local public affairs
show, Eyewitness Newsmakers (airing this Sunday). CIM has been
trying to find a replacement for Kodak which won the right last week to
back out of their multi-million dollar naming agreement for the theatre
in which the Oscars and other events such as Cirque Du Soleil’s Iris take place.
When
I spoke to Sherak over the weekend to discuss progress for this year’s
show he re-emphasized the Academy has nothing to do with who will take
over the name of the theatre except for veto rights . He told me they
would never hold back approval as long as it’s not some completely
inappropiate name that would clash with the Academy’s image. In other
words don’t expect to hear , “Live from the Hooters Theatre , welcome to
the Academy Awards”. Sherak also reiterated his previous statement
that as of now the Academy is only currently negotiating with
CIM regarding where the Oscars will be held after next year’s show, but
is in no hurry to decide. Clearly they have a lot of leverage now that
Kodak has pulled out of its deal. ”You can imagine we have a lot of
interest from other venues but right now we are only talking to CIM,”
he says.
Sherak says he is quite pleased with the direction this year’s Oscarcast, under producers Brian Grazer and
Don Mischer, is taking so far but I asked if he was worried that they
could conceivably come in second in the ratings to the Grammy Awards for
the first time ever. The Academy Awards are routinely the highest
rated entertainment special of the year usually drawing an audience
second only to the Super Bowl. They have never been usurped by another
awards show but on February 12th the Grammys drew nearly 40 million
viewers (second highest ever for the music show) due to interest sparked
by Whitney Houston’s sudden death the day before. That’s higher than
several Oscar broadcasts of the last decade including last year’s
critically drubbed show. And since having a rooting interest in the
movies nominated is often key to ratings, it’s a warning sign that only
one of the nine nominated Best Pictures (The Help) grossed more
than $100 million at the box office. Sherak was sanguine about it.
“It’s true we don’t have any $300 million movies but there are some real
horse races. Look the Grammys was the best concert show I have seen in a
long time. I watched it and I am not the audience. It was a great concert. We are an awards show,” he said confidently predicting a large tune-in thanks to host Billy Crystal and those tight races in high
profile acting categories. “We are going to do the best show possible.
And I can tell you our research indicates there is a lot of interest in
seeing Billy host. I have seen some of the show so far and it’s smart
and funny and our new writers have made a big difference.”
He’s confident viewers will definitely tune in for Billy’s opening
and their mission is to keep them there for the whole show. One way they
will do that is with comedy, just as Grazer promised when I spoke to
him right after the nominations announcement. Among
the presenters named so far are Will Ferrell, Zach Galfianakis, Tina
Fey, Ben Stiller , Chris Rock, Kermit and Miss Piggy and of course the
host, Crystal all designed to keep the laughs coming. There’s also a
high quotient of star power among presenters too including Tom Cruise,
Angelina Jolie , Tom Hanks , Jennifer Lopez and Michael Douglas among
others. And with high profile superstar nominees like Brad Pitt , George
Clooney and Meryl Streep in the ”Hollywood and Highland Center”
theatre Sherak is happy. “One thing is certain. We are not gonna have a
problem figuring out who to cut to in the audience,” he says.
And he’s also promising some strong musical elements even as I
pointed out the producers have decided not to let the two song nominees,
Real In Rio and Man Or Muppet be performed on the show, a decision that caused
a big outcry on the internet. “It is true we won’t be performing the
song nominees but that is not the first time that’s happened,” he says .
That’s true but one of the two times the songs were jettisoned was the
infamous Allan Carr-produced Oscars , generally considered the worst in
history. Sherak says conductor Hans Zimmer has created a great sound
for the show and that there will be a big orchestra pit for the first
time in a few years. He is also excited that Cirque Du Soleil is
creating a special “one time only” performance for the show with the
largest number of Cirque performers ever gathered together. Since
Cirque also has a long running show , Iris at Hollywood and
Highland I asked if this appearance was a tie-in and attempt to cross
plug that show but he says one has nothing to do with the other.For Sherak it’s full steam ahead and ABC is heavily promoting the big night. In fact every night this week, Uggie the dog star of Best Picture front runner , The Artist is appearing on the network’s Jimmy Kimmel late night show to pick the winners of the top categories (he’s also taped a bit with Crystal for the Oscars). On Tuesday’s show the photos of the five nominees for Best Actor were placed on the floor with hot dogs on top of each one. Uggie went straight for George Clooney without hesitation , even bypassing his own co-star Jean Dujardin. Is that a sign?
Hey, maybe the ratings would go through the roof if we let dogs decide the winners instead of the Academy.
