Two Hollywood veterans, Laurence Mark and Bill Condon, will oversee the next Academy Awards telecast.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Wednesday that producer Mark will produce the Feb. 22 show, while writer-director Condon will be executive producer. It will be the first time either has worked on the Oscars.
“It’s both daunting and the gig of a lifetime,” Mark said. “We haven’t done anything like this before. I’m hoping that’s in some way a plus. We don’t quite know what can’t be done.”
Sid Ganis, the academy’s president, said Mark and Condon are “fresh thinkers” who will bring a new perspective to the show.
“They’re both fun and elegant, and that’s what we want the show to be,” Ganis said.
Mark and Condon worked together on 2006’s “Dreamgirls.” Mark’s other producing credits include “I, Robot” and “Jerry Maguire.” Condon won a screenplay Oscar for 1998’s “Gods and Monsters,” and was nominated for a second for writing 2002 best-picture winner “Chicago,” which he also directed
The first order of business for the pair?
Choosing the Oscar host.
“All doors are open,” Mark said. “The casting of any movie is crucial to the success of the movie, and we believe the same is true with any kind of awards show. The casting of the host is a big deal.”
He declined to offer any hints as to whether a past host would return or a new face would grace the Kodak Theatre stage.
Mark and Condon plan to brainstorm together — and listen to the counsel of the film academy’s staff — to create a show that celebrates movies.
“Not only should the Oscars celebrate excellence in the movies of the year,” Mark said, “but hopefully we can figure out a way to also celebrate the joy, poignancy, laughter and thrills that folks have had at many movies of the year.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More