Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

The 290,000-square-foot Academy Museum offers six stories of dynamic spaces, including over 50,000 square feet of immersive permanent and temporary exhibition galleries, an education studio, two state-of-the-art theaters, and versatile spaces for public and special events, highlighted by a stunning rooftop terrace with sweeping views of the Hollywood Hills.

The 1,000-seat theater serves as the museum’s centerpiece, hosting daily screenings, major film events, previews, premieres, and special presentations with the world’s leading filmmakers. A more intimate 288-seat theater functions as the museum’s “cinematheque,” showcasing everything from Saturday morning matinees for all ages to global cinema series. Both theaters also host live performances, lectures, panels, and events featuring today’s most notable film artists. Equipped with cutting-edge sound and projection technology, the theaters deliver an unparalleled viewing experience.

Renzo Piano said, “The Academy Museum gives us the opportunity to honor the past while creating a building for the future—in fact, for the possibility of many futures. The historic Saban Building is a wonderful example of Streamline Moderne style, which preserves the way people envisioned the future in 1939. The new structure, the Sphere Building, is a form that seems to lift off the ground into the perpetual, imaginary voyage through space and time that is moviegoing. By connecting these two experiences we create something that is itself like a movie. You go from sequence to sequence, from the exhibition galleries to the film theater and the terrace, with everything blending into one experience.”