Movies Have a New Home at The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in LA

The ultra-slick spherical glass and steel building looks like an otherworldly structure that landed smack dab in the middle of West Hollywood.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is finally set to open this week, after almost a century in the works.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures aims to help to understand, celebrate, and preservative of cinema through inclusive and accessible exhibitions, screenings, programs, initiatives, and collections.

Museum will present a year-round calendar of screenings, film series, member programs, panel discussions, family programs, and symposia. Programs will include retrospectives and thematic series that illuminate the artistic and cultural contributions of an international selection of movie artists.

They will be immersive and dynamic and will tell the many stories of the movies—their art, technology, artists, history, and social impact—through a variety of diverse and engaging voices. The Academy Museum will tell complete stories of moviemaking—celebratory, educational, and sometimes critical or uncomfortable.

It’s a museum organized by the same group that gives us the Oscars each year, and the venue includes a 33,000-square-foot theater designed by Renzo Piano for public programming, performances, and (fittingly) movie premieres.

While the Academy Awards honor achievements in filmmaking each year, a permanent museum would preserve and pay tribute to those throughout history.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures was originally expected to open in 2020, its completion and opening were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is scheduled to open on September 30, 2021.