By Lindsey Bahr
The Oscars are enlisting a group of live television veterans to oversee its 96th show in March.
Raj Kapoor will serve as executive producer and showrunner, Katy Mullan will executive produce and Hamish Hamilton will return to direct for the first time in nearly a decade, the film academy said Tuesday.
Kapoor, who has worked on the Oscars for the past seven years, also has credits on the Grammys, the Emmys and "Adele: One Night Only," while Mullan produced "Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration" and the opening and closing ceremonies of the London Olympics. Hamilton, meanwhile, has three Academy Award telecasts on his resume already, including the 82nd Oscars hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin and the 86th Oscars hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, in addition to 14 Super Bowl halftime shows and the London Olympics opening.
"Their deep love of cinema, fresh vision, and tremendous live television expertise is perfect for our reinvigorated show," Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a joint statement.
No host has been announced yet.
The Hollywood actors strike has disrupted much of the traditional leadup to awards season, with actors unable to promote projects. But the Oscars, which celebrate all aspects of filmmaking, are forging ahead with plans. The 96th Oscars are scheduled for Sunday, March 10, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
"Having worked with Raj, Katy and Hamish on many special and memorable projects over the years, we have full confidence in their vision for the 96th Oscars," Walt Disney Television executive Rob Mills said.
"Their creativity, infectious energy and sincere love for the movies will be the ticket to making this year's ceremony a night to remember," Mills added.
Lisa Love and Raúl Àvila will also return to design the "red carpet aesthetic," which last year included scuttling a red carpet altogether. There was instead a champagne-colored walkway to the theater.
Like many awards shows, the Oscars have suffered decreased ratings in recent years, and not just because of the pandemic editions.
But they've also had a modest rebound with the past two shows. This year's ceremony, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, drew 18.7 million viewers in March. Though much improved from the 10.4 million who tuned into the Union Station Oscars in 2021, and the 16.6 million who witnessed Will Smith slap Chris Rock in 2022, it was also the third lowest rated show. Prior to 2018, viewership had never been lower than 32 million.
Conventional wisdom suggests that viewership is directly related to the popularity of the movies nominated for the top awards. This year might have the answer yet; but that's a lot of pressure to put on " Barbenheimer."
Lindsey Bahr is an AP film writer
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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