He’s coming back! Jimmy Kimmel has been announced to return as host for the 90th Academy Awards for the second consecutive time. Kimmel returns, as do producers Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd, as stated by Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Kimmel returns as host following a chaotic Oscar ceremony this past February in which the wrong envelope was handed in the Best Picture category. As a moment at will live in infamy in Oscar history, La La Land was erroneously named Best Picture instead of the rightful winner, Moonlight, due to an envelope mix-up caused by a distracted PriceWaterhouseCoopers accountant and a confused Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway (the presenters of the top award).
Despite EnvelopeGate, AMPAS has given Kimmel (as well as De Luca and Todd) and second chance. Notably, the show – and in particular Kimmel – received strong notices for smoothness in presentation before the evening ended in a strange note. Boone Isaacs commented, “Jimmy, Mike and Jennifer are truly an Oscar Dream Team. Mike and Jennifer produced a beautiful show that was visually stunning. And Jimmy proved, from his opening monologue all the way through a finale we could never have imagined, that he is one our finest hosts in Oscar history.”
Kimmel stated with a wink and a nod, “Hosting the Oscars was a highlight of my career and I am grateful to Cheryl, Dawn and the Academy for asking me to return to work with two of my favorite people, Mike De Luca and Jennifer Todd. If you think we screwed up the ending this year, wait until you see what we have planned for the 90th anniversary show!” Expect some tongue-in-cheek envelope jokes at the ceremony next year.
The 90th Oscar telecast will air on ABC on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre.