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The search for next year’s Oscars producers has finally been completed. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Friday that Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd will produce the 89th Academy Awards, which is set to air on Sunday, February 26 on ABC.
Though neither have ever worked on the biggest Hollywood award show in the United States, both have been co-chairs of the Producers Guild of America awards in the past, giving them crucial experience to run this show.
“We both revere the Oscars and grew up watching them each year with our families,” said De Luca and Todd in a statement. “We are so humbled and grateful to be a part of this incredible legacy, and look forward to creating an exciting show that celebrates movies and the power they have to connect us all.”
Academy CEO Dawn Hudson praised the pair’s vision as “inspired and in keeping with the films they’ve produced: entertaining, unexpected and of the highest caliber.”
As for the films they’ve produced, De Luca is a previous Oscar nominee for The Social Network, Moneyball, and Captain Phillips. Currently, he’s producing the Fifty Shades of Grey sequel after working on the highly successful first film.
Todd, meanwhile, is currently the president of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Pearl Street Films and is currently producing Affleck’s upcoming film Live By Night. Previously she’s produced the Austin Powers franchise, Across the Universe, and Memento.
One of the first priorities will be securing a host for the show. Earlier this year, Chris Rock hosted the ceremony under the vision of producers Reginald Hudlin and David Hill and the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. If the buzz around movies right now is anything to go by, next year’s ceremony should have more diversity and it’s something De Luca and Todd should keep in mind.
Anya Crittenton | Associate Editor
