This preview focuses on private, invite-only events aimed at a professional industry audience of stakeholders in the Academy Awards.
As soon as Oscar voting closes on Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 5 p.m. PST, the Academy’s prohibition on “non-screening events” ends. Party season begins again. Here’s a first look at the top gatherings of nominees and creative ensembles before and after Jimmy Kimmel hosts the big show on Sunday, March 4.
Tuesday, February 27
ICON MANN Pre-Oscars Dinner Honoring Former Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs
Regent Beverly Wilshire
Logline: Quincy Jones chairs the night that brings together black Hollywood power players. Halle Berry, Common, Lee Daniels, Charles King, former Oscar telecast producer Reginald Hudlin, TV Academy CEO Hayma Washington, ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungy, Ava DuVernay, and Jada Pinkett Smith are expected.
Wednesday, February 28
The Oscar Concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Logline: The great Michael Giacchino (an Oscar-winning Academy Governor) led a team making fresh arrangements of this year’s nominated scores. The L.A. Phil will perform them live with film clips.
Tickets: Unlike everything else from here down, this is open to the public. Tickets start at $43.
Vanity Fair, Barneys New York, and Sony Pictures Classics’ Cocktail Party
Chateau Marmont
Logline: Cocktail with one of the season’s buzziest films, “Call Me by Your Name,” while servicing one of the mag’s many advertising clients touching Oscar week.
Global Green’s 15th Anniversary Oscar Party
Neuehouse Hollywood
Logline: The CEO of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation will be honored but the Oscar-winning environmentalist himself is not expected. Stepping into the spotlight instead: Sophia Bush, Elisabeth Röhm, Sharon Lawrence and Ed O’Neill.
Thursday, March 1
Cadillac Celebrates the 90th Academy Awards
Chateau Marmont
Logline: Michael Patrick’s soiree always draws a mix of familiar faces (Zoe Saldana, Christoph Waltz, Naomi Watts, Joel McHale) and some news ones (Angela Sarafyan, Jay Ellis) at one of the most social industry gatherings of the week.
Connection: As the Academy’s official wheels, Cadillac will be shuttling nominees and presenters across town all week to many of the events listed below.
Gersh Oscar Party
Chateau Marmont Penthouse
Logline: The agency and Tequila Don Julio 1942 will raise a glass to the agency’s nominees Allison Janney, Sam Rockwell and Richard Jenkins.
Lookout: I don’t envy the elegant face of the Chateau, Anya Varda, and her team that night. March is coming in like a lion.
Vanity Fair and Lancôme Paris Toast Women in Hollywood
Soho House
Logline: Oscar week doubles as a debut for Graydon Carter’s successor, new top editor Radhika Jones. The high-end cosmetics brand will make a donation to Time’s Up on behalf of the guests, who include Ava DuVernay.
Universal, Focus Features and DreamWorks Animation Oscar Nominee Celebration Dinner
Spago
Logline: There’a pile of nominees and nominations here with Focus having a banner year (“Darkest Hour,” “Phantom Thread,” and “Victoria & Abdul”). A year ago, Universal was not scheduling Oscar week plans for “Get Out,” but after Jordan Peele’s commercial and critical hit took off, that all changed.
Oscar Wilde Awards at J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot
Bad Robot in Santa Monica
Logline: In a week packed with formal gatherings, this casual get together with live music on “JJ’s roof” always brings out Hollywood’s most strident supporters of the U.S.-Ireland relationship. This year, the US-Ireland Alliance honors Mark Hamill, Barry Keoghan, and Catherine O’Hara. Colin Farrell and Martin Short will each be presenting awards. See a master of the Star Wars and Star Trek universes, Abrams, try on the role of master of ceremonies.
2nd Annual KODAK Auteur Awards
Crossroads on Melrose
Logline:The former name-sponsor of the home of the Oscars celebrates Oscar-contending movies that were shot on actual film.
Who to Expect: Sean Baker (Director, “The Florida Project”), Luca Guadagnino (Director, “Call Me By Your Name”), Dee Rees (Director, “Mudbound”), and Edgar Wright (Director, “Baby Driver”)
Dolby Honors this year’s Oscar Nominees in Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Cinematography
The London West Hollywood
Logline: The Sound Editing and Sound Mixing Oscar categories contain the same five films as nominees, though the two audio trades are not the same thing. The Oscar’s titular host – the “Dolby” Theatre – welcomes nominees from those two categories to join the nominated cinematographers in West Hollywood three nights before the big show.
Friday, March 2
British Consul General Michael Howells’ Film is Great Reception
British Consul General’s Residence in Hancock Park
Logline: Don’t tell the ultra-nationalist xenophobes. The foreigners are already here.
There are U.K.-born nominees in 17 of the 24 Oscar categories and representation in five of the top races: Best Picture (“The Darkest Hour,” “The Phantom Thread,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”), Best Actress (Sally Hawkins), Supporting Actress (Lesley Manvill), Best Actor (Daniel Kaluuya, Daniel Day Lewis, Gary Oldman), and Director (Christopher Nolan).
Feature: Host Michael Howells gave one of the best speeches of this awards season at BAFTA’s Golden Globes weekend Tea Party. Take note and shut up when he addresses his backyard.
Pours: Even the bar is British. Sponsors include Silent Pool Gin, Aberlour Whisky, Chapel Down (English Sparkling Wine), Seedlip (non-alcoholic spirit) and Fever Tree tonics.
Emma Stone hosts Women in Film’s Celebration of the 2018 Female Oscar Nominees
Crustacean, Beverly Hills
Logline: The reigning Best Actress winner (and in the famous flub, also announced as the Best Picture winner) joins Women in Film president Cathy Schulman and the community of female nominees from both sides of the camera.
The industry’s reckoning of institutionalized gender inequality and systemic sexual assault engulfed Hollywood, and Schulman’s been sounding the alarm for years. How WiF addresses the state of the industry on its biggest weekend will set the tone for what happens as as we turn the page to a new “industry year.”
Sponsors: Max Mara (for the 11th year) and Lancôme with additional support from Crustacean Beverly Hills, Johnnie Walker, and Stella Artois.
WME
Friday evening, Private Residence
Who’s Who: Kobe Bryant, the champ of this year’s Oscars gatherings, should be there. Add nominees Denzel Washington, Octavia Spencer, Laurie Metcalf, Guillermo del Toro, Dee Rees, Christopher Nolan, Luca Guadagnino, Hans Zimmer, James Mangold and Michael Green to the list and call it a top crowd.
Bonus: The agency will also raise a glass to nominated projects “Call Me by Your Name,” “Mudbound” and “The Square,” all of which hail from Endeavor Content.
Vanity Fair, Genesis, 20th Century Fox, and Fox Searchlight celebrate “The Shape of Water,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “The Post,” “The Greatest Showman,” “Ferdinand,” “Logan,” and “War for the Plant of the Apes.”
Friday evening, Spago Beverly Hills
Logline: This one wasn’t going to fit in a boutique space like the Sunset Tower. The studios have too many contenders. Select guests will arrive via luxury car sponsor Genesis.
Saturday, March 3
Film Independent Spirit Awards
A Tent on the Beach: 1550 Pacific Coast Highway Lot 1 North Santa Monica
Logline: The industry’s booziest daytime bash of the year. Everyone heeds Film Independent President Josh Welsh’s mantra to “leave the thank-you notes at home,” adding to a celebratory day that begins in the lounges outside the main tent as early as 11 a.m.
Top Hang: DIRECTV’s Bungalow presented by AT&T, the main hospitality suite outside the tent. This is where winners come to have their trophies engraved and select VIPs – nominated or not – go to grab cocktails.
IFC Films and Sundance Selects’ Film Independent Spirit Awards After Party
41 Ocean Club
Logline: After the John Mulaney and Nick Kroll signs off from hosting the Spirit Awards, host network IFC welcomes winners and friends to walk up the hill. MovieGrade App, Hendrick’s Gin, and Kona Brewing Company sponsor the Spirit Awards’ late afternoon party.
Sony Pictures Classics Annual Oscar Nominees Dinner
Nordstrom Local on Melrose Place in West Hollywood
Why they will be smiling: This is the finish line. The “Call Me by Your Name” troika — Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, and director Luca Guadagnino — end the 14-month promotional tour that started back at Sundance 2017.
Other Nominees: SPC will also toast its two foreign language nominees, “A Fantastic Woman” (from Chile) and “Loveless” (from Russia).
MPTF’s Annual “Night Before”
Fox Studios
Logline: The MPTF is where the gatekeepers and power brokers in the industry convene on the night before the Oscars. This is an invite worth fighting for. Make a big donation and step in to Jeffrey Katzenberg’s circle.
Sign of the times: YouTube joins the list of blue-chip corporate sponsors.
Oscars Viewing Parties on Sunday, March 4
*Top Invite* – 2018 Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party
Custom built complext in West Hollywood Park
Logline: The most choice invite if you’re not seated in the first 15 rows of the Kodak Theatre itself.
Do: drink top-shelf champagne and feast on cuisine from a Michelin three-star restaurant in Spain with a great cross section of Hollywood.
Don’t: Don’t try to take any pictures of Sir Elton or stand too close to his head table. You may be excused for asking frequent guest Robert Kraft what happened in the Super Bowl. By 8:45 or so, trophy winners start pouring in as the telecast on screen comes to you.
Charity Component: Contributing to the EJAF mission, presenting sponsor BVLGARI is donating a 13 carat white gold diamond necklace, the “BVLGARI DIVISSIMA” to the live auction.
Wow Booking: Greta Van Fleet. This is a return to prime form for the EJAF, welcoming a big up-and-coming band heralded as a savior of guitar rock, not a nostalgia act. Because all 42 of the headlining dates on their first U.S. tour sold out in advance and they’re headed to Coachella, the four Michigan boys are a choice dessert on the evening.
Byron Allen’s Second Annual Entertainment Studios Gala
Beverly Wilshire
Logline: Katy Perry and Jamie Foxx will perform at the benefit for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Last year’s inaugural event raised $1 million, and “Byron hopes to raise even more again this year,” a rep for Entertainment Studios tells the Party Report.
IMDb Live Viewing Party
Neuehouse in Hollywood
Logline: This is part party, part live broadcast. Dave Karger, Kevin Smith and other IMDb talent will provide live commentary on the show that will stream across IMDb platforms.
Guests: About 300 industry types.
Notables: Last year, Issa Rae and Aisha Tyler were among the crowd about a mile away from the actual show.
Mercedes-Benz Viewing Party
Four Seasons, Beverly Hills
Logline: The Four Seasons is an Oscars week base camp, so this is sort of like watching the golf tournament from the clubhouse. Last year was a mixed bag of names from Housewives (Kandi Burruss) to 1980s basketball star Ralph Sampson, to ESPN’s man in L.A., Stan Verrett.
Nordstrom Local Oscar Viewing Party for the Fashion Industry
Nordstrom Local on Melrose Place in West Hollywood
Logline: With New York’s fashion week two weeks in the rearview mirror, the style set can kick back here before hitting the after parties.
Oscars After-Parties
The Academy’s Governors Ball
Dolby Ballroom above the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood and Highland
Logline: They have a lot of “make-up” homework to do after last year’s Governors Ball drowned in the surreal wake of the Oscars envelope flub.
Fun Facts: Six time Oscar winner Francis Ford Coppola’s winery furnishes the Academy with all the still wines. He’s shipping 2,400 bottles to the Dolby, some of which are a limited edition production of “Director’s Cut Oscars 90th Edition” bottles. Piper-Heidsieck will pour over 8,500 glasses of champagne, including Party Report favorites Rare 2002 and Rare 1998 Magnums.
Vanity Fair Oscar Party
Wallis Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills
Logline: It’s the first outing for new Editor-in-Chief Radhika Jones (above). She steps into the bridge of a ship that Graydon Carter built and is already making waves. On Feb. 15, a round of layoffs included Jane Sarkin and Beth Kseniak, two founding mothers of VF Oscar night that has been the “toughest invite in town” over the past 24 years.
On the brighter (or sadder?) side of “recently separated” news, single Jennifer Aniston should be there. Forget the Brad Pitt sequel rumors. Please, let her show up with Angelina Jolie.
Details on other late night soirees to come.
Please send invites, updates, and details to the party and event contributor Mikey Glazer here.