After three years of more or less risky experiments, the evening of the Oscars will find a master of ceremonies next March 27, announced Tuesday the ABC channel which broadcasts the flagship event of the American film awards season.
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Changing the formula was urgent. In recent years, audiences have continued to erode. In 2019, the first year without a host, the spectators had returned a little. 29.56 million cinephiles were present, ie 3 million more than in 2018. This led the organizers to extend this strategy, believing that this formula was appreciated, but the following galas showered their hopes: 23.64 million faithful for the triumph of
Parasite
and barely 10.40 million for the return of the Oscars in a post-Covid world. A historic underperformance.
Pandemic and closure of cinemas oblige, the studios had withdrawn the long awaited blockbusters, such
Dune
or
West Side Story,
the films in the running were from independent cinema and were sometimes unknown to the general public.
The 2021 edition had reserved a historic female triumph for Chloe Zhao and her
Nomadland
.
Erase the false note of the 2021 vintage
Appointed producer of the evening, Steven Soderbergh had modified the well-oiled protocol of the Oscars: no clips of films in competition, the statuette for the best film was the penultimate, and not the last prize to be awarded. Choice all the more risky as the last trophy to be awarded was that of the best actor. Instead of going to favorite and late Chadwick Boseman, Anthony Hopkins, who had remained in his native Wales, had triumphed for Florian Zeller's
The Father
and was absent from the California ceremony which ended abruptly, without winner or host to close it. A real false note.
ABC declined to give more details, refusing to say if comedian Jimmy Kimmel, master of ceremonies for the Oscars in 2017 and 2018, would come back.
In 2019, ABC and the producers were unlucky.
They had appointed Kevin Hart.
But the African-American comic had given up taking control of the evening after old tweets deemed homophobic had resurfaced.
He had not been replaced, hence this first test without a conductor and his famous opening monologue.
Dare a superhero?
In the meantime, speculations are rife.
The specialized press puts forward funny and very outlandish choices.
The Hollywood Reporter
suggests that the Academy Awards take inspiration from the success of
Spider-Man: No Way Home
and entrust the show to the three Spider-Men who resurrected the planetary box office: Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland .
An enticing "private joke".