In some ways, the 2022 Oscars could mark a return to not only pre-pandemic normalcy, but Academy glory of past years. This year’s telecast restores the host format with not one but three funny ladies (Amy! Regina! Wanda!) and a ceremony back at the Dolby Theatre with glamorous afterparties on the Uber-stop list.
In the stories below, the key players behind Disney’s Beauty and the Beast reveal the fascinating backstory that led to it making Oscar history — something the groundbreaking, triply nominated Flee could certainly emulate.
But one can’t go back in time, and this year’s nominees highlight the Oscars’ constant state of evolution. A THR analysis shows the Academy’s struggle to diversify a membership that is still 81 percent white. And though it remains one of the world’s most talked-about events, viewership is dwindling: According to a national poll of 2,200 adults ages 18 to 34, only 6 percent regularly tune in to the show. And yet we still watch, as the films’ plotlines on and off the screen, and their players, keep us riveted.
Read more from THR’s blockbuster Oscars Issue below.
➸ Oscar Predictions: Who Will Win, Who Should Win
➸ Did Oscar Winner Asghar Farhadi Steal the Premise for ‘A Hero’?
➸ ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and Its Unprecedented Oscar Run in 1992: “It Was a Giant Moment for Everyone”
➸ How the Academy Museum’s Jewish Exclusion Became Exhibit A
These stories first appeared in the March 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
Source: Hollywood