1 Why is the Academy planning to build a movie museum?
A frequent comment by out-of-town visitors is that there’s no single place to go to get a real sense of Hollywood. One of the reasons the Academy is planning a museum is to provide that place, so that visitors from around the world can return home with a greater understanding and appreciation of what Hollywood and the movies are all about. Our mission is to create a place to celebrate and explore how film has reflected and shaped world culture, and to help us all better understand what the movies have meant – and continue to mean – in our lives.
2 How does the museum fit in with the Academy’s existing resources and activities?
The Academy already performs a number of museum-like functions – from collecting and preserving films, manuscripts and other motion picture-related materials, to presenting public screening series, tributes, lectures, exhibitions and educational programs. The Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library includes in its unparalleled collection more than 10 million photographs, 60,000 screenplays and 30,000 posters (not to mention thousands of music scores, sound recordings, production and costume sketches, and oral histories) that will form a superlative foundation for the museum’s exhibits (at least its two-dimensional ones). The collections of the Film Archive cover some 70,000 individual titles encompassing early cinema, Academy Award-nominated studio pictures, documentaries and short films, making it an invaluable resource for the museum’s screening programs. The museum will be able to capitalize on the Academy’s considerable expertise and resources, in an atmosphere of excitement and discovery.
3 Why was Hollywood selected as the location for the new museum?
The Academy is committed to Hollywood – Hollywood the industry and Hollywood the community – and so it made sense that our museum would be there, too. We hold the Oscar presentation ceremony in Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre. We house our Film Archive, the Science and Technology Council and several other departments in our Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study, which will become part of the overall museum campus.
4 How big will it be?
Big enough to provide a day’s worth of entertainment, surprise and delight for film buffs of all ages. We’re still working out the final size, but we expect the museum to be spread out over a number of buildings, with open-air gathering spaces in between.
5 When does the Academy expect to break ground/open?
We’re about two years from breaking ground and about four years from opening.
6 What’s going to be inside the museum?
We are working with exhibit design firms to develop distinctive, enriching, and fun exhibits that will take visitors through the history of film, the process of filmmaking, and of course, the excitement of the Academy Awards.
7 Is the Academy seeking donations of movie artifacts?
We are not actively collecting at this point. But if you have an object you think might be perfect in a museum of this type, please tell us about it using the contact form.
8 How will the project be funded?
We intend to raise most of the necessary money privately, through a museum fundraising campaign.
9 What else will I be able to do there?
As it’s currently envisioned, the museum will include at least one new theater, allowing the Academy to expand its popular series of screenings, lectures, and other public programs. An outdoor auditorium will offer open-air nighttime movies or daytime concerts and presentations. Changing exhibit spaces will give visitors an opportunity to delve deeply into a particular craft area, genre, time period or filmmaker’s work.
In addition, the museum will have spaces designed especially for throngs of schoolkids, to support the robust educational programs the Academy expects to develop.
And of course, when it’s time for a break, there will be a café where visitors can catch their breath and sit a while before heading back inside.
10 Will there be a gift shop? Will replicas of the Oscar statuette be for sale?
We plan to have a store where visitors can purchase items related to the museum experience and to movies in general. We don’t yet know what those items will be, but there won’t be replicas of the Oscar statuette for sale. There will still only be one way to get an Oscar statuette: by earning it.
