Oscar academy plans outdoor theatre in Hollywood

Los Angeles: The overseers of the Academy Awards are building an outdoor theatre and event space on a piece of land in Hollywood that had been intended for a film museum.

The Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences plans to open the 17,000-square-foot amphitheatre next May as a venue to show classic films.

The academy bought the land in 2005 with plans to build a world-class film museum there.

Planners abandoned that idea after the economy went sour, making it impossible to raise the funds needed to build a whole new facility.

In October, the academy announced plans to lease a former May Co. department store now owned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and put the movie museum there.