Oscar academy plans outdoor theater in Hollywood

[December 19, 2011]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The overseers of the Academy Awards are building an outdoor theater and event space on a piece of land in Hollywood that had been intended for a film museum.

The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences plans to open the 17,000-square-foot amphitheater next May as a venue to show classic films.

The academy bought the land in 2005 with plans to build a world-class film museum there. Planners abandoned that idea after the economy went sour, making it impossible to raise the funds needed to build a whole new facility.

In October, the academy announced plans to lease a former May Co. department store now owned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and put the movie museum there.

[Associated Press]

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