The Academy has unveiled a $187 million budget, a massive Oscars venue switch and an ambitious global streaming strategy, while AI and human creativity remain at the heart of Hollywood’s biggest institutional debate.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is preparing for a very different future — and its latest members-only meeting offered a revealing glimpse of where Hollywood’s most powerful awards organisation is heading.
With roughly 11,000 Academy members tuning into the annual virtual meeting, president Lynette Howell Taylor and CEO Bill Kramer laid out the organisation’s priorities for the year ahead, covering everything from money and the Oscars to artificial intelligence, museum expansion and the preservation of film history.
The headline number is impressive: the Academy has approved a $187 million budget for the 2027 financial year.
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But the more interesting story is what that money is being used to build.
The Academy is attempting to become less dependent on the Oscars themselves, preparing the world’s most famous film awards show for its biggest distribution experiment yet, and positioning itself at the centre of Hollywood’s increasingly complicated AI conversation.
In other words, the Academy isn’t simply planning another awards season.
It is preparing for a major institutional makeover.
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The Academy’s $187 Million Hollywood Machine
The Academy’s budget for the period from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027, stands at $187 million.
And the spending breakdown offers an unusually clear picture of how the organisation operates.
Awards-related expenses, including production of the Oscars, nominees’ events and related ceremonies, account for approximately 23% of the budget.
Personnel costs are the largest individual category at 41%, while Academy programmes and operations account for 12%.
Another 19% is allocated to Foundation operations, covering areas such as museum exhibitions, screenings, education, talent development and the Academy’s vast collection.
Around 5% goes towards bond repayment.
The numbers reveal something important.
Despite being globally synonymous with the Oscars, the Academy is increasingly much more than one television event.
Its museum, archives, educational initiatives and talent programmes represent a substantial portion of its long-term identity.
And that transformation is being funded by an aggressive push to diversify revenue.
Hollywood’s Oscar Dependency Is Finally Changing
For decades, the Academy’s finances were heavily tied to the success of the Oscars.
That is changing.
CEO Bill Kramer pointed out that historically, around 90% of the Academy’s operating revenue was connected to the Academy Awards.
Today, the organisation says it has significantly expanded its sources of income through individual donors, foundations, corporate sponsors, museum activities and events.
The most striking number comes from the Academy’s 100 Revenue Diversification Campaign.
Since launching two years ago, the campaign has raised $308 million toward a $500 million target by the end of 2028.
That is already more than 60% of the overall goal.
And the donor list reads like a who’s who of Hollywood and global luxury.
Netflix, Sony Pictures Entertainment, NBCUniversal and Apple are among the major contributors, while fashion and jewellery powerhouses including Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani and Tiffany & Co. have also joined the campaign.
The message is clear: the Academy wants the Oscars to remain its crown jewel without allowing the entire organisation’s financial health to depend on one night.
That could prove crucial as the entertainment business continues to shift away from traditional television.
The Oscars Are Leaving Dolby Theatre
Perhaps the most dramatic change is physical.
The Oscars are preparing to leave the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and move to the much larger Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
The change comes through a new agreement with AEG and represents a significant expansion in capacity.
The Dolby Theatre can accommodate roughly 3,400 people.
The Peacock Theater can hold around 7,000.
That is more than double the capacity.
And according to Academy leadership, increasing access for members is one of the major reasons behind the move.
For years, getting an Oscars ticket has been one of the most exclusive experiences in the film industry.
A larger venue could change that dynamic.
More Academy members could potentially attend, giving the ceremony a stronger sense of being an event created for the filmmaking community rather than simply a television spectacle.
But there is another intriguing possibility.
A larger venue also gives the Academy significantly more room to experiment with the physical presentation of the ceremony.
That could become increasingly important when the Oscars themselves are undergoing another enormous change.
Hollywood’s Biggest Awards Show Is Coming to YouTube
Starting in 2029, the Oscars are scheduled to move from their traditional ABC arrangement to YouTube.
That is arguably the most radical distribution change in the ceremony’s history.
For decades, the Oscars have been built around broadcast television.
Moving to YouTube means the Academy will be able to reach audiences on a fundamentally different platform.
And the Academy has extremely ambitious expectations.
Leadership has expressed hope that the ceremony could eventually reach up to 2 billion people worldwide.
That is an enormous target.
But the potential audience is also enormous.
YouTube is already a global platform with viewers accessing content across phones, televisions, computers and connected devices.
The move could make the Oscars easier to access internationally and potentially attract younger audiences who have little attachment to traditional television schedules.
It also gives the Academy an opportunity to rethink how audiences interact with the ceremony.
The 2029 Oscars may not simply be a television broadcast uploaded to YouTube.
If executed properly, it could become a genuinely digital-first global entertainment event.
The AI Question Is Getting More Serious
And then comes the subject that Hollywood cannot escape anymore: artificial intelligence.
Academy president Lynette Howell Taylor made it clear that the organisation does not intend to approach AI from either panic or blind enthusiasm.
Instead, the Academy wants to participate actively in the conversation.
That is a significant position.
The film industry remains divided over how AI should be used, who owns AI-generated work, how performers’ likenesses should be protected and where human authorship fits into an increasingly automated creative environment.
For the Academy, the issue is particularly sensitive.
The Oscars ultimately celebrate human filmmaking.
Screenwriters, actors, directors, editors, cinematographers, composers, designers and countless other artists are recognised for creative achievements.
AI therefore raises a fundamental question for the organisation:
What exactly should the Academy be rewarding as technology becomes more capable of generating creative material?
The Academy’s current philosophy appears to be that technology should remain a tool rather than a substitute for human creativity.
That position could influence future awards conversations, industry standards and perhaps even how Academy members think about eligibility.
The Academy Is Becoming Hollywood’s AI Meeting Ground
The Academy’s leadership also appears determined to make the organisation a place where artists, scientists and technologists can discuss the future rather than simply react to it.
That could become one of its most important responsibilities over the next decade.
Hollywood doesn’t need another institution predicting whether AI will destroy cinema.
It needs serious conversations about how the technology can be used responsibly.
The Academy has the prestige to bring filmmakers and technology companies into the same room.
And given the growing involvement of major technology companies in entertainment, that role could become increasingly valuable.
The Academy Is Also Buying Hollywood History
While the future dominates the headlines, the Academy continues to invest heavily in the past.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures president and director Amy Homma highlighted several notable acquisitions made during the past year.
Among them are interior van set decoration and props from Nomadland, the bicycle from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and a mummified prop corpse associated with The Hunger.
The Margaret Herrick Library has also acquired Diane Keaton’s annotated script for Manhattan Murder Mystery and costume design drawings by Edith Head for Kim Novak in Vertigo.
Perhaps the most fascinating discovery is a previously unseen 1929 John Wayne screen test on 35mm nitrate film.
For film historians, material like this is priceless.
It demonstrates that the Academy’s role isn’t only about deciding who wins an Oscar.
It is also becoming one of the world’s most important guardians of cinematic history.
The Film Archive Is Getting a Major Upgrade
The Academy’s commitment to preservation is also extending to its infrastructure.
The Academy Film Archive building, known officially as the Pickford Center, is scheduled for renovations expected to be completed by the end of 2029.
The work will include upgrades to HVAC and mechanical systems, lighting and roofing.
That may not sound as glamorous as an Oscars red carpet.
But for film preservation, it is essential.
The Academy holds materials that are effectively irreplaceable.
Protecting them requires highly controlled environments and modern infrastructure.
In an era when physical film elements are increasingly valuable historical records, maintaining the archive could ultimately prove just as important as hosting the Oscars.
What This Means for the Future of the Oscars
Taken together, the Academy’s plans reveal an organisation preparing for a post-traditional Hollywood.
The $187 million budget shows a growing institutional infrastructure.
The $500 million fundraising campaign reduces dependence on Oscars revenue.
The move to the Peacock Theater increases physical capacity.
The 2029 YouTube transition opens the ceremony to a potentially enormous global audience.
And the AI discussions position the Academy at the centre of one of the industry’s biggest technological debates.
The real challenge will be balancing all of these changes without losing what makes the Oscars culturally powerful.
The Academy can modernise its distribution, expand its museum and embrace new technology.
But the emotional core of the Oscars remains simple: filmmakers want their work recognised by their peers.
That is the tradition the Academy cannot afford to lose.
For now, however, the direction is unmistakable.
The Oscars are getting bigger, more digital, more global and increasingly less dependent on the old Hollywood business model.
And if the Academy succeeds with its ambitious plans, the biggest transformation may not be the trophies, the venue or even YouTube.
It may be the reinvention of what the Oscars actually mean in the next generation of cinema.
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