Oscar producers Katy Mullan and Raj Kapoor have opened up about some special moments fans and audiences can expect from the 98th Academy Awards on Sunday — and they revealed that there will be a Marvel reunion during the telecast.
“There’s also going to be a Marvel reunion for the superhero fans,” Mullan told The Hollywood Reporter during a recent Oscars press conference alongside host Conan O’Brien, as well as the ceremony’s music director, production designer, and supervising choreographer. “So we’re gonna have superstar superheroes, and there is also going to be an extraterrestrial on the stage. So you can figure that one out.”
Needless to say, that’s some pretty exciting stuff. There have been so many famous faces that have become Marvel staples over the years, so it’ll be awesome to see who ends up being part of this exciting moment. But there’s going to be even more reunions during the telecast this year. “We have a huge reunion happening,” Kapoor, who also serves as Oscar showrunner, noted during the press conference. “There’s been rumors of what that is, and we are very excited to announce that we have a Bridesmaid reunion that is going to be very special.”
That secret reunion is anyone’s guess at this point, and it won’t be long until we find out exactly what that surprise is. But Bridesmaids is coming up on a 15th anniversary, and with Rose Byrne nominated for her first Oscar in the lead category, now’s definitely the perfect time.
During the press conference, the Oscars team also gave details on their plans for the previously announced big Sinners and KPop Demon Hunters “moments” that will honor both major films during the ceremony.
“We’re basically taking songs from films, and we’re not just recreating them like the film did. We’re creating them as a celebration of the film as a whole,” choreographer Mandy Moore explained during the press conference. “In particular, the KPop Demon Hunters performance of ‘Golden,’ I kept having this visual, and I talked to Raj about these beautiful gold flags. It’s so beautiful. Well, I was working on it today, and it was like, oh, I haven’t done a lot with flags, but I was thinking on the stage, after I saw the renderings, I was like, oh, maybe this, like, beautiful air quality could happen. And, oh, they’re walking down onto the diamond and all that should rise at this point when all the flags go out. We’re gonna see how it all goes together on camera on Friday.”
For Sinners, it’s basically a family affair. “It’s not just about the song, it’s really how Ryan [Coogler] integrated music and wove that into the entire story,” Kapoor noted. “It’s a really beautiful package. We are celebrating that film with the film’s costumer, Ruth E. Carter has come on board to help us. We have Aakomon Jones, who is the film’s choreographer, working with us. We have that music team as well, and then we have all these amazing cast members, plus new people that weren’t even in the film coming in to help celebrate that. So we’ve kind of like blown it up.”
He added, “We have the lovely Misty Copeland making an appearance, and we have all these talented dancers, and it’s going to be a real celebration, not only of the song, but of the film.”
The 98th Academy Awards will be broadcast live on ABC, as well as streaming on Hulu, on Sunday, March 15 beginning at 7pm ET. The Oscars is on high alert amid an FBI warning of a potential Iran drone attack on California in retaliation for the war.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
