It looks like ABC and AMPAS have just about enough of E!, CNN, TV Guide Network and the likes cramping up the red carpet before the Academy Awards. AMPAS announced today that the 30-minute pre-show, which has run from 8 PM ET/ 5 PM PT for the past decade or so, will now be expanded to 90 minutes and begin at 7 PM ET/ 4 PM PT. Charlie Haykel and Juliane Hare will executive produce the extended red carpet extravaganza.
Hakel and Hare are longtime colleagues of Oscar telecast co-Executive Producer Don Mischer and have worked on previous Emmy telecasts and Super Bowl shows at Don Mischer Productions.
In many ways, this is good news as the previous 30-minute red carpet show was awkwardly filled with pre-taped interviews that were rarely memorable and often felt rushed. With more time, interviewers should be able to actually have something of a relatively interesting conversation with some of the bigger nominees and attendees on their way into the Kodak Theater (well, maybe it will be more than two questions with pat answers). What is unclear is how this will affect ABC’s competitors. The Academy is still letting the other networks air until 8 PM, but expect most publicists to steer as many of the big names toward ABC’s prime time cameras as much as possible. Will this severely hurt the Ryan Seacrest’s of the world? We’ll find out on Feb. 27.
In other awards season news…
– Not to seem like a “Social Network” hater (I’m not), but how about that re-release this past weekend? No one ever expected “Network” to crack the top ten, but $653,209 from just 603 theaters won’t help the acclaimed thriller hit the $100 million mark domestically. However, it appears what Sony is really after is to crow about hitting $200 million globally. Having already made $199,653,048 worldwide, “Network” should pass the $200 million figure after its debut in Japan this weekend. Of course, “Inception” has grossed $823 million globally but Academy members might need a big ol’ reminder about that before they vote for best picture. ‘Just sayin’.
– David O. Russell will be honored with a career retrospective at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York January 15–February 20. The honor will kick off with a screening of “The Fighter” on Jan. 15 followed by a Q&A with Russell moderated by Spike Jonze. For information on tickets and a screening schedule visit movingimage.us.
– Have you entered HitFix’s Golden Globes pool? Make your picks for the big show and if you guess the most correctly you could win a sweet flip HD video camera. Check it out.