Oscars Experience to open with Academy Museum

An Oscars Experience is just one of the many planned gallery and exhibition spaces planned for the upcoming Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, opening in late 2019.

When the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures officially opens later this year, there will of course be a nod to Oscar himself.

Visitors will learn about the history of film as well as a history of the Academy Awards. This including something organizers are calling the "Oscars Experience."

A detailed description of each exhibit planned for the new $388 million museum, opening in Los Angeles in late 2019, was revealed on Dec. 4.

Take a look at the details for the exhibit and Oscars Experience:

Since 1929, the Academy Awards have been the ultimate recognition of moviemaking excellence. Originally a dinner for industry insiders only, the ceremony has gradually become a global phenomenon watched by millions around the world. Visitors can trace the rich history of the Academy Awards and the story of the Oscar in an exhibition that includes favorite highlights, memorable winners’ speeches, private backstage moments, and rarely seen materials from the Academy’s collection. The exhibition will look back at the show, its glamour as well as its controversies, and the ways in which the Academy Awards ceremony has evolved and been a mirror of our culture. Visitors will then enter a gallery offering an Oscars experience only the Academy can provide, allowing visitors their own photo opportunity and Oscar moment.

The experience could be similar to “Meet the Oscars” exhibitions hosted by The Academy nearly a decade ago.

Learn more about the Academy Museum as Kerry Brougher, director of the museum, and Academy President John Bailey discuss the origins of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures:



The timeline so far
An idea for a film museum has been around longer than the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences itself. And the road to get to opening day has been long coming.

Initially set for a mid-2017 opening, the wait is almost over.

In 2011, the Academy and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced their intention to work together in establishing the Academy-run museum in the historic May Co. building, then known as LACMA West. The built, which originally house the May Company department store, was built in 1939.

The Academy launched a $300 million capital campaign for the museum in 2012, chaired by Bob Iger and co-chaired by Annette Bening and Tom Hanks.

In May 2012, award-winning architects Renzo Piano and Zoltan Pali were selected to design the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Pali later left the project. The initial design was unveiled in October.

By 2015, The Academy had already secured more than $250 million in pledges from more than 1,300 individual donors globally.

Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved the museum in June of 2015. And in October, construction began.

In September 2017, the museum announces a landmark $50 million donation from philanthropists Cheryl and Haim Saban. As the largest gift to the campaign, the May Company Building — the site of the museum — was renamed the Saban Building.

Along the way, the goal of the campaign was also increased to $388 million.

In December 2018, director Kerry Brougher announced details of the inaugural exhibitions that will be on view when the museum opens in late 2019.

“This long-term exhibition will give visitors behind-the-scenes insights into the history of movies and moviemaking by immersing them in a cinematic world. The exhibition unfolds over 30,000 square feet on two floors of the Museum and combines evocative settings, key objects from the Academy’s unparalleled collections, and an array of projected multi-screen film presentations as we invite you to go inside the movies.” (from Academy Museum website)

Stay tuned to The Gold Knight for more news as the opening approaches.

The 91st Academy Awards, for outstanding film achievements of 2018, will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 225 countries worldwide.