Talk a walk down the Oscars red carpet ahead of Sunday’s show. Oscars organizers showed off the arrivals area outside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Wednesday - with a plastic-covered carpet that’s notably crimson in color after last year’s champagne carpet. Jimmy Kimmel returns as host when the Oscars air live Sunday on ABC in the U.S.Crew members roll out the red carpet for Sunday’s 96th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre, Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Los Angeles.
Another thing that works: When the speeches are good and people feel invested in the winners. Last year there were, from Brendan Fraser to Ke Huy Quan, which helped. This is not something the producers have any control over, but they are optimistic about the nominees and setting up scenarios with presenters who have a genuine connection either with each other or people in the audience.
Kapoor noted that the live performances of the Oscar-nominated original songs should be a real highlight of the show too, from the Osage singers to Gosling. They’ve also re-designed the stage so that an orchestra of 42 musicians can be in the Dolby Theatre and seen on camera. And Kapoor teased that the In Memoriam sequence is something they’ve put a lot of time and thought into and that it is poised to tug at audience heartstrings.
Their main concern at the moment is that the global audience remembers that the broadcast begins an hour earlier than normal, at 7 p.m. EDT. It’s also the first day of daylight saving time.