NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Oscars finally have their producers: Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd will produce the 89th Academy Awards.
The announcement Friday by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences came much later than usual and after widespread conjecture over who would take the reins of next year’s ceremony. Reginald Hudlin and David Hill, who produced this year’s show, were jettisoned after the Chris Rock-hosted broadcast, marked by the “OscarsSoWhite” backlash, drew 34.4 million viewers, one of the show’s smallest audiences in recent years.
De Luca is a veteran producer and three-time Oscar nominee, currently in post-production on “Fifty Shades Darker.” Todd is president of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Pearl Street Films. They’re both first-time Oscars producers, though they were co-chairs of January’s PGA Awards, put on by the Producers Guild of America.
The question now turns to who will host the coming Oscars. They will take place Feb. 26 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, and air live on ABC.
“We are thrilled to be working with Mike and Jennifer,” said Dawn Hudson, academy chief executive. “In our meetings, they shared an early vision for the show that is inspired and in keeping with the films they’ve produced: entertaining, unexpected and of the highest calibre.”
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
