The Oscars are moving to Peacock Theatre at L.A. LIVE in 2029. Here’s what the Academy’s landmark venue shift means for film, finance, and the future of awards season.
For the first time in more than two decades, Hollywood’s biggest night is changing its address. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced a multi-year partnership with AEG to bring the Oscars to L.A. LIVE and the venue currently known as Peacock Theatre, beginning with the 101st Academy Awards in 2029.
The deal runs through 2039.
And it arrives alongside an equally seismic shift: the ceremony’s broadcast rights moving from ABC to YouTube exclusively. For filmmakers, producers, financiers, and festival players tracking where the industry is headed, the Oscars move to L.A. LIVE isn’t just a real estate story. It’s a signal about the future of the awards ecosystem itself.
A Return to Downtown Los Angeles
The move has history behind it. Long before Dolby Theatre anchored the ceremony in Hollywood, the Oscars lived in downtown L.A. at the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, beginning in 1969. That era gave us some of the ceremony’s most iconic moments. When the Academy relocated to the then-named Kodak Theatre in 2002, Hollywood became the permanent backdrop.
Now the pendulum swings again.
Peacock Theatre sits inside L.A. LIVE, a 23-acre, four-million-square-foot sports and entertainment district adjacent to Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles. AEG, which developed and owns the complex, also operates an ecosystem that includes The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, restaurants, clubs, and hospitality venues that have hosted major events since the district opened in 2007.
The Emmys have been using the space for years. The Grammys have called it home. Now the last major holdout in Hollywood awards season is coming to the neighborhood.
What the Venue Upgrade Actually Means
This isn’t a straight swap. AEG is investing in meaningful infrastructure to make the space worthy of the world’s most-watched awards ceremony.
The partnership includes upgrades to stage, sound, and lighting systems, as well as lobbies, backstage facilities, and other production-critical areas. AEG and the Academy will collaborate on bespoke design elements built specifically for the Oscars format. L.A. LIVE’s recently expanded plaza will serve as the red carpet arrival zone, giving the ceremony a proper outdoor preshow footprint that the current Dolby setup has always constrained.
“We are thrilled to partner with a global powerhouse like AEG…”
Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor
Their track record for building and operating technologically sophisticated live performance venues is unrivaled,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor.
“For the 101st Oscars and beyond, the Academy looks forward to closely collaborating with AEG to make L.A. LIVE the perfect backdrop for our global celebration of cinema, both for our live in-theater audience and for film fans around the world.”
AEG’s Todd Goldstein framed the deal as a creative mandate, not just a logistics contract. “L.A. LIVE was built to host the moments that define culture, and there is no greater global stage than the Oscars,” said the Chief Revenue Officer. “We’re proud to partner with the Academy to reimagine what the Oscars can look and feel like in the years ahead.”
The YouTube Factor Changes the Calculus
The venue shift doesn’t happen in isolation. The Oscars move to L.A. LIVE in 2029 coincides with the ceremony’s exclusive global streaming rights landing at YouTube. Peacock Theatre will be the first venue to host the Oscars under that YouTube deal.
For producers and financiers paying attention to audience reach and campaign strategy, this matters. The shift from a traditional broadcast network to a global streaming and video platform changes who sees the ceremony, when they see it, and how distributor campaigns for awards-season films will be structured in the years ahead.
The Academy’s official announcement offers additional context on the long-term partnership framework.
For film finance professionals building slate strategies around awards visibility, the YouTube migration deserves more analysis than it’s currently getting in trade coverage.
The Industry Calendar Impact
Awards season functions as a capital-raising moment as much as a cultural one. The festivals that feed it, from Venice and Toronto to Sundance and Cannes, serve as launch pads for films that end up in the conversation. The ceremony itself drives ancillary markets. Distributor deals accelerate. Library valuations shift.
A venue upgrade at this scale, paired with a streaming platform distribution change, means the Oscars are deliberately repositioning themselves for a younger, more global audience. For independent film producers and their investors, that’s a larger, more accessible window for breakout titles.
The current Dolby Theatre arrangement stays in place through the 100th Oscars in 2028, which continues broadcasting on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.
FAQ: Oscars Move to L.A. LIVE
Q: When exactly are the Oscars moving to L.A. LIVE and Peacock Theatre? A: The move begins with the 101st Academy Awards ceremony in 2029. The partnership between the Academy and AEG runs through 2039.
Q: Where are the Oscars being held until then? A: The ceremony remains at Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and continues broadcasting on ABC through the 100th Oscars in 2028.
Q: Will the Oscars still be on television after the move? A: Beginning in 2029, the Oscars will be broadcast exclusively through YouTube under a global rights deal with the Academy, marking a significant shift away from traditional network television.
What Comes Next
The Oscars move to L.A. LIVE is a decade-long commitment, not a trial run. For every stakeholder in the film industry, from festival programmers to institutional allocators watching entertainment as an asset class, this signals that the Academy is serious about modernizing its platform. The ceremony’s audience, distribution, and physical footprint are all changing at once.
That kind of alignment is rare. It’s worth watching closely. If you’re building a film project, raising capital, or advising clients with entertainment exposure, now is the time to map your awards season strategy against this new landscape.
