The Dolby Theatre (formerly known as the Kodak Theatre) is a live-performance auditorium in the

Ovation Hollywood Ovation Hollywood (formerly Hollywood & Highland) is a shopping center and entertainment complex in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, United States. Located at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, the sho ...

shopping mall and entertainment complex, on

Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz district and proceeds to the west as a major thoroughfare through Little Armenia and Thai Town, Hollywoo ...

and Highland Avenue, in the Hollywood district of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. Since its opening on November 9, 2001, it has been the venue of the annual

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

ceremony. It is adjacent to Grauman's Chinese Theatre and near the

El Capitan Theatre El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood. The theater and adjacent Hollywood Masonic Temple (now known as the El Capitan Entertainment Centre) is owned by The Walt Disney Company and serves as the ...

. Besides the Academy Awards, the venue has hosted other concerts and theatrical performances.

Architecture

The theater was designed by

David Rockwell David Rockwell (born July 25, 1956) is an American architect and designer. He is the founder and president of Rockwell Group, a 250-person cross-disciplinary architecture and design practice based in New York City with satellite offices in Madrid ...

of the Rockwell Group specifically with the Oscar ceremonies in mind. Though the stage is one of the largest in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

—roughly tied with the

Elliott Hall of Music The Elliott Hall of Music is a theater located on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. With a seating capacity of 6,005, it is one of the largest proscenium theaters in the world, and is 45 seats larger than Radio City Mus ...

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

—measuring wide and deep, its

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

is only about half that of the Hall of Music, accommodating 3,332 people. The auditorium has become known as a venue for televised theatrical performances (e.g., ''American Idol'' and the Academy Awards). The architectural team consulted extensively with leading production personnel in Hollywood, achieving a highly functional cable infrastructure, with an underground cable bunker that crosses under the theater to truck locations on adjacent streets. Power is also substantial and accessible. The theater has a unique Rockwell-designed cockpit in the orchestra seating area for camera, sound, and stage management. The hall from the front entrance to the grand stairway (leading up to the theater at the rear of the shopping complex) is flanked by storefronts, as well as

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

columns displaying the names of past recipients of the Academy Award for Best Picture (with blank spaces left for future Best Picture winners, currently set up to 2071). In a fashion reminiscent of Hollywood movie-making, the building is dressed before the Academy Awards ceremony, sometimes with a different sign on its façade, red drapery to hide its storefronts, and the famous

red carpet A red carpet is traditionally used to mark the route taken by heads of state on ceremonial and formal occasions, and has in recent decades been extended to use by VIPs and celebrities at formal events. History The earliest known reference ...

running up its grand stairway.

History

The theater was developed by the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

(AMPAS) to overcome logistical issues it faced hosting the Academy Awards at other venues, such as the

Dorothy Chandler Pavilion The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center, which is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt ...

and

Shrine Auditorium The Shrine Auditorium is a landmark large-event venue in Los Angeles, California. It is also the headquarters of the Al Malaikah Temple, a division of the Shriners. It was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (No. 139) in 1975, and ...

. In August 1997, AMPAS and Canadian development firm TrizecHahn went into negotiations over the development of an entertainment complex located on the corner of

and Highland Avenue adjacent to the

Mann's Chinese Theatre Grauman's Chinese Theatre (branded as TCL Chinese Theatre for naming rights reasons) is a movie palace on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States. The original Chines ...

. Seven months later, both the Academy and TrizecHahn agreed on a twenty-year lease that allowed for the ceremony to be staged at the new venue. The Academy Awards were first hosted at the new theater for its 74th edition in 2002, marking the first time it was held in Hollywood since the 32nd ceremony at the Pantages Theatre in 1960. It has been the venue for all Academy Awards ceremonies held since, with the only exception being the

93rd Academy Awards The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. The ceremony was held on April 25, 202 ...

in 2021—which were downsized and moved to

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The theater was sponsored, until February 2012, by the

Eastman Kodak Company The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

, which paid $75 million for

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

to the building. In early 2012, Eastman Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection, thus ending its naming-rights deal. Then the theater's name was temporarily changed to the Hollywood and Highland Center at the suggestion of the venue's landlord. On May 1, 2012, it was announced that the venue would be renamed the Dolby Theatre, after Dolby Laboratories signed a 20-year naming rights deal. Dolby updated the sound system first by installing

Dolby Atmos Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels, allowing sounds to be interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horizontal, nor verti ...

. The company plans to continue updating the auditorium with newer technologies as they become available. File:The-grand-staircase-of-Kodak-t--at-night.JPG, center, The Grand Staircase leading up to the Dolby Theatre File:The entrance to the Dolby Theatre ahead of the 2022 Oscars.jpg, center, The entrance to the theatre ahead of the 2022 Oscars

Other events

Besides the Academy Awards, the theatre has hosted other award presentations. The American Film Institute has held its Life Achievement Award gala at the theatre, It hosted the

3rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards The 3rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards were held in Los Angeles at the Kodak Theatre on Wednesday, September 18, 2002. Alejandro Sanz was the night's big winner, winning a total of three awards including Album of the Year. The ceremony returned in s ...

in 2002. From September 2011 until early 2013, the venue hosted ''

Iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

'', a

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

residency show inspired by the history of cinema. Significant changes were made to the theater to accommodate the show, including adding lifts deep under the original floor. It was announced on November 29, 2012, that ''Iris'' would close on January 19, 2013, after only two seasons, due to lack of profit. The reality music competition series ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' hosted its season finales from the Dolby Theatre during its original run on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

in 2002, from 2004 to 2007, and in 2015 and 2016. From 2016 through 2021 (excluding 2020), the theatre hosted the live shows of the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

reality competition '' America's Got Talent''.

Bibliography

References

External links