00:00The 91st Academy Awards has found its host in Kevin Hart.
00:03The comedian and first-time Oscars host took to Instagram on Tuesday to write,
00:07"...for years I have been asked if I would ever host the Oscars and my answer was always the same.
00:12I said that it would be the opportunity of a lifetime for me as a comedian and that it will
00:15happen when it's supposed to. I will be sure to make this year's Oscars a special one.
00:20I appreciate the Academy for the opportunity. Now it's time to rise to the occasion."
00:24The last two Oscars shows were hosted by Jimmy Kimmel as the ceremony is seen in decline in
00:28viewership with a record low 26.5 million viewers tuning in for last March's broadcast.
00:33The Academy has promised the broadcast will not run over three hours and has implemented one change
00:38already. Not all of the awards in the 24 Oscars categories will be revealed live. Instead,
00:43six to eight categories will be announced during commercial breaks and edited excerpts from the
00:47acceptances will be aired later in the broadcast. For his part, Hart previously hosted the MTV Movie
00:52Awards along with his Central Intelligence co-star Dwayne Johnson. He has been vocal about his desire
00:58to host the Oscars since at least 2015 when he appeared on Kelly and Michael, now Kelly and Ryan, saying,
01:03"...That would be an amazing accomplishment. Right now, within what I've done and the progress
01:10that I've made in my career, that's definitely the next major step I feel for a comedian,
01:15to say that you've hosted the Oscars." The Oscars will air live on Sunday, February 24th on ABC.
01:21To read more on this story, head to THR.com. For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Lyndsey Rodrigues.
01:28Hello?
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