For the first time since 2018, the 94th edition of the Oscars, which will be held on March 27 at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, will find a master of ceremonies, announced this Tuesday, January 11 the ABC channel, which broadcasts this great event. of the 7th art.
“I can confirm that the Oscars will have a reigning host this year,” said Craig Erwich, president of ABC Entertainment, without giving more details, and in particular declining to say if the comedian Jimmy Kimmel, master of ceremonies of the Oscars in 2017 and 2018, was going to re-emerge.
In 2019, the comic Kevin Hart had given up taking control of the evening after the emergence of old tweets deemed homophobic. He had not been replaced and the ceremony had taken place with a succession of different presenters, without a chief host to orchestrate everything.
This formula had been very well received and had even been taken up by other awards, such as the Emmy Awards, but the last two editions of the Oscars had been criticized for their lack of humor and rhythm.
a drop in audience
Last year, the coronavirus pandemic forced the Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences to hold the gala evening in the large train station in central Los Angeles, with a reduced scale in accordance with health rules.
The televised broadcast, without a master of ceremonies, had gathered around ten million spectators, a decrease of 56% compared to 2020, which had already recorded a historically low audience.