Veteran Hollywood executive Jeff Sagansky is in talks to buy the Dolby Theatre, the Los Angeles venue that for more than 20 years has played host to the Academy Awards, according to Sagansky.
“We’re buying the Dolby Theater,” Sagansky told The Wrap’s editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman during the opening Spotlight Conversation at TheWrap’s TheGrill conference on Tuesday.
“Because it’s owned by CalPERS, and CalPERS basically does nothing,” Sagansky added. “It’s the only theater I’ve ever been in where there’s no concessions. You ever been in a theater where there was no concessions? So, you know, they just didn’t book it. They used it for the Academy Awards, a couple of other events. It’s a huge, beautiful theater building, only 20 years old, and it’s not used at all.”
Representatives for CalPERS did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Sagansky is the CEO and president of Double Eagle Acquisition Group. He previously served as the president of Sony Pictures Entertainment, president of CBS Entertainment and CEO of TriStar Pictures. Sloan served as the CEO of MGM and is a founding investor of Double Eagle.
The theater seats 3,400 people and sits in the heart of Hollywood in a complex long known as Hollywood and Highland until recently. The Oscars are contracted with the venue through 2028. The theater also hosts premieres and holds concerts and screenings throughout the year.
The shopping and entertainment center in which the Dolby Theatre sits, which was recently renovated and changed its name to Ovation Hollywood, includes retail shops, restaurants, a movie theater complex and other businesses. It abuts the legendary TCL Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard.
The Dolby opened in 2001 and has been the Oscars’ home ever since, becoming the 13th location to host the show. The ceremony had previously been held in either the the Shrine Auditorium or the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion since 1969. Other venues have included the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Pantages Theater, the Chinese Theatre and the Roosevelt Hotel, which hosted the inaugural Oscars on May 16, 1929, five months before the “Black Tuesday” Wall Street crash.
The Dolby Theatre is majority owned by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and managed by investment firm Canyon Partners. Brokerage firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. repped CalPERS and the Dolby Theatre in the deal.
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