Academy Museum of Motion Pictures facts for kids
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The Saban Building, a restored 1939 Streamline Moderne May Company building (2021)
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| Established | 2021 |
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| Location | 6067 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, California United States |
| Type | Motion picture history |
| Collection size | over 13 million objects |
| Architect | Renzo Piano Kulapat Yantrasast |
| Owner | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |
| Public transit access |  Wilshire/Fairfax (2025) 20 720 |
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is a cool museum in Los Angeles, California. It opened in 2021. This museum is the first big one of its kind in the United States. It has over 13 million items. The museum teaches about the history, science, and cultural impact of the film industry.
You can find the museum in the old May Company Building. This building is on Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. It is part of a group of museums called Museum Row. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) runs the museum. They also keep the Academy's important records there.
Contents
Museum History
The museum was supposed to open in 2020. But it was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It finally opened to special guests on September 25, 2021. The public could visit starting September 30.
After it opened, some people felt the museum did not show enough about the Jewish people who helped start the film industry. Important figures like Carl Laemmle and Jack Warner were mentioned. The museum listened to this feedback. In January 2022, they announced plans for a new exhibit. This exhibit would celebrate the Jewish pioneers of the film industry. In May 2024, the museum opened its first permanent exhibit. It is called "Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital."
In July 2022, the museum officially recognized a group of its workers. This group helps employees work together for their rights.
Museum Design
A famous Italian architect named Renzo Piano designed the museum. The outside of the May Company building was updated. It is now called the Saban Building. This was thanks to a large donation. The building got new stone and shiny gold tiles.
Inside the Saban Building, there are two main exhibit areas. These are the Spielberg Family Gallery and the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery. There is also the Shirley Temple Education Studio. This studio offers workshops about filmmaking. It also has items from Shirley Temple's career.
A big round building, called the Sphere, was added next to the main building. It connects with walkways. The Sphere has a glass roof called the Dolby Family Terrace. The museum has two movie theaters. They are used for showing films and other events. The David Geffen Theater in the Sphere holds 1,000 people. The smaller Ted Mann Theater is in the Saban Building. It seats 288 people.
Academy Museum Gala
The Academy Museum Gala happens every year. It helps raise money for the museum. At the Gala, they show how movies are made. They also share the history of cinema.
The Academy Museum Gala 2023 was the third one. It raised $10 million. That year, the Gala honored famous people like Meryl Streep, Michael Jordan, and Oprah Winfrey.
Museum Collections
The museum has more than 13 million items. These include costumes, drawings for costumes, film reels, posters, movie props, and screenplays. Some items are from as far back as 1927. In May 2020, the museum bought a special dress. It was the May Queen dress worn by Florence Pugh in the movie Midsommar (2019). They bought it for $65,000 to help with COVID-19 relief.
Here are some cool items you can see at the museum:
- A cape worn by Bela Lugosi in the movie Dracula (1931).
- Shirley Temple's tap shoes from The Little Colonel (1935).
- Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz (1939).
- Tablets from The Ten Commandments (1956).
- The typewriter used to write the movie script for Psycho (1960).
- A model of the Aries 1B spaceship from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
- The only shark mold left from the movie Jaws (1975).
- An E.T. prop from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
- The yellow dress worn by Emma Stone in La La Land (2016).
- The costume of the amphibian man from The Shape of Water (2017).
- Pillars named after important people in movie history. These include Rita Moreno, Cher, Barbra Streisand, and Hattie McDaniel.
Museum Exhibitions
The second and third floors of the museum have an exhibit called "Stories of Cinema." The first special exhibit was about Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. It opened on September 30, 2021, and closed on June 5, 2022. This was the first time Miyazaki’s work was shown in such a big way in the United States. The exhibit also showed items that had never been seen outside of Japan.
This exhibit was 11,000 square feet. It had over 300 items. These included original drawings, character designs, storyboards, and posters. The museum worked with Studio Ghibli in Japan to get all the materials. There were also fun, interactive displays. These included the “Mother Tree,” Skyview, and Magical Forest. Each was inspired by a different Miyazaki film.
Other galleries in the museum cover many different topics. Some of the first galleries focused on:
- Pedro Almodóvar
- Citizen Kane
- Climate change
- Black Lives Matter
- Bruce Lee
- Spike Lee
- Oscar Micheaux
- Real Women Have Curves (2002)
- Thelma Schoonmaker
There is also an area with Oscar statuettes. It celebrates historic Oscar winners. These include Ang Lee, Barry Jenkins, Sidney Poitier, and Buffy Sainte-Marie.
The museum aims to create exhibits that are complete and fair. In May 2024, the museum opened its first permanent exhibition. It is called "Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital."
Board of Trustees
The museum has a board of trustees. These are people who help guide the museum. Some of the first members included:
- Eric Esrailian
- Laura Dern
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Tom Hanks
- Ryan Murphy
- Ted Sarandos
- Diane von Fürstenberg
Film and TV Premieres
The museum is also a place where new movies and TV shows have their first showings in Los Angeles. Some films and series that have had premieres here include:
- Last Night in Soho (2021)
- Belfast (2021)
- House of Gucci (2021)
- Nightmare Alley (2021)
- Being the Ricardos (2021)
- WeCrashed (2022)
- Ambulance (2022)
- House of the Dragon (2022)
- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
- Babylon (2022)
- The 1619 Project (2023)
- Elemental (2023)
- May December (2023)
- Maestro (2023)
- The Color Purple (2023)
- The Book of Clarence (2023)
- Shōgun (2024)
- Queens (2024)
- Civil War (2024)
- The Studio (2025)
- How to Train Your Dragon (2025)
Community Partners
The museum works with different groups in the community. These partners help share diverse stories and support filmmaking. Some of them are:
- Armenian Film Society – a group that focuses on Armenian movies.
- F.L.U.I.D. – a group that supports LGBTQIA+ movies.
- Ghetto Film School – a school that teaches about filmmaking.
See also
In Spanish: Museo de la Academia de Artes para niños
