With museums dedicated to the art of film located in New York, England and even Wamego, Kansas, it is surprising to learn that there is not one in Hollywood, the de facto "home of the movies" for decades (and no, the Hollywood Wax Museum doesn't count). Now, eighty years into their existence, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences is finally getting around to changing that ... in a big way.With a view of the famous Hollywood sign, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will be located on a two-block, eight acre site near the Kodak Theatre (home of the Academy Awards) and promises to "play a unique role in transporting visitors into the universe of movies" with various exhibits, collections and so on celebrating the cinematic arts (and hopefully not just the Oscars). But don't start planning your next trip to Tinseltown yet; the Academy has just now chosen an architect to design it, and the planned three-year construction period won't even begin until 2009.
In the meantime, international circus sensation Cirque du Soleil has been booked into the Kodak as their new permanent resident. Seems the multi-million dollar theater has had trouble filling its often empty stage outside of Oscar season, so the Canadian troupe that is seemingly taking over the world (it has five shows in Las Vegas alone, plus Orlando, New York and several current touring productions, with Japan and China next on their list) is stepping in to draw the lucrative tourist crowd. The all new, as-yet untitled, movie-themed show will open in 2010 and will perform eight shows a week, with a four to six week break for the annual Oscar telecast.
Come next decade, it looks like movie fans will actually have something more to do in Hollywood then just stick their hands in the cement at Grauman's Chinese.
Links via MovingImage.com, NationalMediaMuseum.org, OzMuseum.com, HollywoodWax.com, Variety.com, MovieMuseum.org, KodakTheatre.com, Oscars.org, CirqueduSoleil.com LATimes.com and MannTheaters.com.
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