Oscar Hosts Are “Already Winning” In New Promo

ABC has dropped a new promo for the Oscars, spotlighting hosts Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes. In the ad (check it out above), the trio discusses the challenge ahead and how they’ll need to stack up against competition from other recent emcees.

“We just have to do better than last year’s host,” says Sykes. But when it dawns on the women that there hasn’t been a host in several years, Sykes enthuses, “Boom, we’re already winning” as Schumer chimes in, “We’re nailing it!”

The 94th Oscars, which will be held on March 27, marks the first time the ceremony has had a host since Jimmy Kimmel in 2018. Since the days of Billy Crystal in the 1990s, the show has had difficulty finding a consistent fit — and last year’s host-less debacle made it clear they needed someone to center the telecast.

This year’s Academy Awards are produced by Will Packer, whose long list of hit TV and film successes includes Girls Trip, which starred Hall among its ensemble. Along with comedy veterans Sykes and Schumer, the trio’s appointment indicates a plan to get some humor injected into the proceedings.

The Oscars are coming off a 2021 telecast that was the lowest-rated ever, hampered by pandemic constraints (the show was held with reduced capacity at Los Angeles’ Union Station instead of its normal home at the Dolby Theatre) and a lineup of movies that were tougher to see in a year in which cinemas were impacted by Covid restrictions.

This year’s Oscars return to full capacity at the Dolby where Netflix’s The Power of the Dog leads all nominees with 12 going in and Warner Bros/Legendary’s tentpole Dune is second with 10. Once again, several of the year’s highest-profile films, including the box office juggernaut Spider-Man: No Way Home, did not get major nominations. Other pics in the key races include SAG winner CODA, Drive My Car, Belfast, Don’t Look Up, King Richard, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley and West Side Story.