The 84th annual Academy Awards were presented last night in Hollywood.
The star-studded event presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences was hosted by old favorite Billy Crystal, who kept the show vibrant and flowing with entertainment. You may remember the Academy was forced to make a last minute change when original host Eddie Murphy dropped out after his producing partner, Brett Ratner, was fired from the Oscar’s for making a homophobic remark. But that was not the only bit of controversial news surrounding this year’s presentation.
The Oscar’s are traditionally held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. But this year, Kodak filed for bankruptcy, which allowed them to get out of an expensive corporate sponsorship deal of the famed structure. Since Kodak could no longer afford the 20 year $75. million dollar naming agreement, building owners were also forced to make a last minute change.
Only 1 day after the official Oscar invitations at the Kodak Theatre were sent out, the Academy announced the building had been (temporarily) renamed the Hollywood & Highland Center, which is the intersection in Los Angeles the building resides on. Although it was too late for show producers to get the Kodak name taken off the building, they made sure the name Kodak was never (officially) mentioned during the live telecast — although Billy Crystal joked in his opening monologue “Welcome to the Chapter 11 Theater.” Nevertheless, a new corporate sponsor is currently being sought , which would give the building a new name in time for the 2013 Academy Awards.
In case you missed the broadcast, here are some of the major winners from last night:
BEST PICTURE: “The Artist” (Thomas Langmann, Producer)
BEST LEADING ACTOR: Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
BEST LEADING ACTRESS: Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
BEST DIRECTOR: “The Artist” (Michel Hazanavicius)
FOR A FULL LIST OF ALL WINNERS, CLICK HERE.
