In January, the Oscars announced it was set to have a host for the first time in four years. And now, it has been revealed that it won’t have only one host, it will have several.
The ceremony will take place as a three-act show, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with three celebrities being lined up by organisers.
The multi-host strategy has been implemented in the hopes of attracting a broader audience to the ceremony, which will be broadcast live on ABC, after a dip in viewing figures in recent years.
In 2021, viewer numbers for the Oscars dipped by 51 per cent to 9.23 million from 18.6 million the previous year. However, the pandemic meant the 2021 ceremony was pared back in comparison to previous years.
It has not yet been announced which stars will take on hosting duties, but front runners include Jimmy Kimmel, Tiffany Haddish, Pete Davidson, and Tom Holland.
The Oscars have gone without a host since 2019, when comedian Kevin Hart, who was originally lined up to present the live ceremony, stepped down after a backlash on social media over homophobic tweets he had posted in the past, for which he later apologised.
The 94th Academy Awards will take place at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre on Sunday, March 27.
Netflix’s The Power of the Dog leads this year’s nominees, with 12 nods. Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi film Dune, which was partly shot in Abu Dhabi, is a close second with 10 nods, followed by West Side Story and Belfast, which picked up seven nominations each.
