Oscars will drop all reference to Kodak during show

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences confirmed Wednesday that they will not refer to the Kodak Theater as the Kodak Theater for this year’s ceremony on Sunday. Instead, the theater will be referred to as the “Hollywood and Highland Center” during promotion for the show, ABC’s pre-show and the show itself.

Academy President Tom Sherak confirmed the decision to KABC-TV in Los Angeles, reports The Associated Press. The decision comes after the camera company filed for bankruptcy. Just last week, Kodak won the right to remove its name from the theater after the theater’s landlord tried to prevent the company from trying to get out of its 20-year sponsorship deal of the theater.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sherak said that it was the landlord company, the CIM Group, that had requested that Kodak’s name not be used this year.

The Oscars have been hosted at the Kodak Theater since 2002, under the deal Kodak and CIM agreed to in 2000, worth an estimated $72 million in total. Kodak’s deal had the company paying at least $3.6 million a year under the contract.

The Academy had been considering moving the ceremony to another venue, but it will have to hold the 2013 Oscars at the theater. The Hollywood Reporter notes that the Academy could renew its contract with CIM to stay at the theater, or move to a smaller theater, like the Nokia Theater or somewhere else in the Los Angeles area. CIM has been trying to get another company to agree to naming rights, but no company wants to commit $50 million to putting its name on a theater if the Oscars cannot be guaranteed as part of the package.

The Oscars will be broadcast live on ABC Sunday, starting at 7 p.m.