'Not Used At All:' Dolby Theatre's Prospective Owner Wants More Butts In Seats

HOLLYWOOD, CA — Citing the amount of time the Dolby Theatre sits empty, an entertainment executive is in talks to buy the Academy Awards venue with the suggestion that he would put it to better use, according to a report.

“We’re buying the Dolby Theater,” Jeff Sagansky said this week at a conference hosted by TheWrap.

The theater, a landmark at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, has hosted the Oscars since it opened in 2001. It's also been the venue for TV shows like "American Idol."

Owned by The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the 3,400-seat theater was listed for sale at an undisclosed price a year ago. Bloomberg reported the auditorium could sell for $70 million — much less than the $94 million it cost to build.

Sagansky, the former president of Sony Pictures and CBS, said the state workers' pension fund agency has underutilized the venue.

"CalPERS basically does nothing,” he said. “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.”

The Oscars are contracted with the Dolby through 2028, TheWrap reported. The theater's lineup for the rest of the year includes a podcast taping, a concert headlined by Armenian artist Super Sako, a screening of "Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse" with live musical accompaniment and a performance by the Los Angeles Ballet of "The Nutcracker."

The potential sale comes amid several years of major changes to Los Angeles' theatrical landscape.

The Egyptian Theatre, located down the street from the Dolby, reopened last year after Netflix completed a $70 million renovation of the historic movie house. As part of an effort to secure locations for its premieres and industry screenings, the streamer has also operated the Bay Theater in Pacific Palisades since 2018.

And after Pacific Theaters, owner of the former Arclight chain, filed for bankruptcy in 2021, its former locations around LA County have been purchased by Regal, AMC and Netflix competitor Amazon. Shuttered since the pandemic, Pacific's crown jewel Cinerama Dome in Hollywood is set to reopen next year, Deadline reported.