While the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is still officially mum, The Hollywood Reporter reports that the producers of the Oscars are planning to stage a March 27 telecast that would look very different than its predecessors.
In what it described as a “multi-emcee Palooza,” the trade reveals that the 94th annual awards show will feature multiple hosts, with each host topping an hour-long portion of the telecast.
It’s thought that varying the hosts would not only broaden the demographic appeal of the lately ratings-challenged telecast, but also serve to take the pressure off a singular emcee, long seen as a high-profile, but potentially thankless job.
This year’s event will be the first with an official host since Jimmy Kimmel left the stage in 2018. The telecast went without a host in 2019, and saw a ratings bump, but last year’s also-host-free event managed an Oscars-worst audience of around 10 million people.
By comparison, 2004’s telecast, which saw Peter Jackson‘s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King triumph, attracted 46 million viewers.
The 94th Academy Awards will be broadcast live on ABC starting at 8 p.m. ET on March 27 from Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, marking the award show’s return to Oscars’ traditional venue following last year’s COVID-limited event at Los Angeles’ Union Station.
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