Dolby takes over Oscars venue name

LOS ANGELES: The Hollywood venue that hosts the annual Oscars show was renamed the Dolby Theatre on Tuesday, after the audio pioneer gained naming rights previously held by bankrupt camera company Kodak.

Kodak pulled out weeks before this year's Academy Awards show in February, and talks have been ongoing to find a new backer for the venue, next to the iconic Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.

Britain-founded, California-based audio technology pioneer Dolby announced a deal with the CIM Group, which owns the Hollywood & Highland Center of which the Oscars venue is part, to put its name on the venue for the next 20 years.

"Dolby is a brand recognized around the world for creating the best, most life-like entertainment sound experiences in any environment," said Dolby Laboratories chief Kevin Yeaman.

"This partnership with CIM allows the Dolby Theatre to be not only the world-stage for the Academy Awards, but for Dolby innovations for decades to come," he added.

CIM Group co-founder Shaul Kuba added: "Dolby Laboratories has a long history in Hollywood and has made significant contributions to the entertainment industry. "It is a respected international brand and technology innovator. We are proud to welcome them as our partner on the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center," he said.

A bankruptcy court in February approved Kodak's request to cancel its contract with the until-then Kodak Theatre, ruling that it was "in the best interests of the debtors, their estates, their creditors and other parties."

The contract between Eastman Kodak and theater owner CIM was valued at $72 million -- $3.6 million per year for 20 years.

The theater, inaugurated in November 2001 with seating for 3,332, has hosted the Academy Awards since 2002.

Kodak, an iconic American firm that introduced generations of consumers to mass-market cameras, filed for bankruptcy in January. (AFP)

Showbiz is big business as Oscars hits town

HOLLYWOOD: The Oscars are big business for stars and filmmakers - but they also spell big bucks for limo firms, caterers, designers and thousands of others as Hollywood rolls out the red carpet.

In fact, the Academy Awards on Sunday are the climax of the annual awards season which generates fortunes for those behind the scenes in Tinseltown, who keep the champagne flowing, parties buzzing and posh frocks just right.

From the Golden Globes to the Grammys, the Screen Actors Guild ceremony to the Razzies, the awards shows -- and all those pre- and after-parties, keep everyone busy from November to February every year.

You don't have to go far to stumble on a red carpet in Hollywood - even outside awards season, film premieres regularly attract scrums of cameramen, photographers and fans spilling across sidewalks outside key movie theaters.

So a visit to the cinema can sometimes turn into a scramble through a melee created by an arriving celebrity, lensmen's flashlights and shouts of "Angelina, over here!" ricocheting around the cinema lobby.

But Angelinos are used to it, and many depend on it for their livelihoods, as - like the annual harvest elsewhere - the first two months of the year bring huge crops of orders for everything that surrounds the shows.

Tony Adzar, founder & CEO of Red Carpet Systems, is one of those reaping the benefits: in February, he sells twice as much carpet as he does in August, and his is only one of dozens of similar firms.

To get to the parties, people of course need limousines.

The larger companies, which have a fleet of maybe 25 luxury vehicles, are booked to capacity and are able to give their affiliates and subcontractors a lot of business.

ITS works closely with Sequoia Productions, which has organized Hollywood events for 23 years and produces the traditional post-Oscars soiree known as the Governors Ball.

The ball brings together the governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organizes the Oscars. On Sunday night, 1,500 people will attend.

For Sunday's ball alone, Sequoia employs 150 technicians, 400 catering staff and a management team of 30. The company unveiled its menu last week, chosen by Austrian celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, also an Oscars veteran.

Red Carpet provider Adzar said awards season is exhausting, but essential for his and many other businesses in Hollywood. (AFP)

Interesting facts about the Oscars

HOLLYWOOD: Here are some interesting and offbeat facts about the Oscars, past and present:Meryl Streep this year extends her lead as the most-nominated performer in Oscar history with her 17th nomination, for her role as former British premier Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady."

Billy Crystal will host this year's Oscars show for the ninth time after actor Eddie Murphy pulled out at the last minute amid a row over anti-gay remarks by a producer, who also quit. Bob Hope hosted the Academy Awards the most times, 11 by himself and seven with co-hosts.

Musician John Williams now has a total of 47 nominations, including two this year. He ranks second only to Walt Disney as the most-nominated individual in Oscar history. Among living people, Woody Allen, who has been nominated 23 times including twice this year, is second only to Williams.

Iran's "A Separation" is the first screenplay written in Farsi to receive an Oscars writing nomination.

The Kodak Theatre, home to the Oscars for the last decade, is no longer called that, after the iconic photo company went bankrupt and pulled out of a sponsorship deal barely a week before this year's show. The Academy this week began referring to the venue as the Hollywood and Highland Center, the shopping and entertainment complex which includes the former Kodak Theatre. It is not known when the Kodak sign will come down.

German Oscar-nominated director Wim Wenders's "Pina", which showcases the work of the late German choreographer Pina Bausch, is the first 3D film nominated in the documentary feature category.

"The Artist" is the 10th predominantly black-and-white film to be nominated for cinematography since 1967, when the separate black-and-white category was eliminated. Previously nominated: "In Cold Blood" (1967), "The Last Picture Show" (1971), "Lenny" (1974), "Raging Bull" (1981), "Zelig" (1983), "Schindler's List" (1993), "The Man Who Wasn't There" (2001), "Good Night, and Good Luck" (2005), and "The White Ribbon" (2009).

George Clooney is for the second time nominated in two different categories for two different films in the same year. This year it's as best actor in "The Descendants" and for adapted screenplay in "The Ides of March"; in 2005 he won best supporting actor for "Syriana" and was nominated for original screenplay for "Good Night, and Good Luck."

Woody Allen, with his best director and screenplay nominations for "Midnight in Paris," passes Billy Wilder by becoming a seven-time double nominee for directing and writing on the same film.

For the first time in Oscars history, nine films were nominated for Best Picture. Over the last two years the number in that category has been increased from five to 10, in theory to increase the range of films which could be shortlisted, but the rules were changed after last year to a complicated formula which results in between five and 10 being chosen. (AFP)