Craig Zadan and Neil Meron to produce 2014 Oscars

OHMYGOSSIP — Craig Zadan and Neil Meron have been re-hired to produce next year’s Oscars ceremony following the success of their Seth MacFarlane hosted awards show earlier this year.

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will produce next year’s Oscars ceremony. The ‘Chicago’ executive producers have been re-hired to oversee next year’s Academy Awards broadcast after receiving high praise for their star studded show – hosted by Seth MacFarlane – earlier this year.

In a statement, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Hawk Koch said: “Craig and Neil have the overwhelming support of the Academy governors to produce the Oscars again in 2014. In order to establish continuity with this year’s enormously successful show, we felt it was important to give these consummate professionals the green light now to begin creating another great evening.”

Zadan added: “We are very honoured to have been asked to return as Oscar producers for a second year. We look forward to creating a distinctive and entertaining show.”

The producers incorporated more musical performances than ever in this year’s glitzy ceremony in February, paying homage to musical films released over the last 10 years including performances by the cast of ‘Chicago’ and ‘Les Miserables’, as well as Jennifer Hudson performing a number from ‘Dreamgirls’.

Other performances came from Adele, Dame Shirley Bassey and Barbra Streisand.

Although host Seth MacFarlane divided audiences – particularly with his “boob song” skit, which humorously noted actresses who have gone topless on screen – viewership was up three per cent over the 2012 ceremony, with 40.3 million viewers watching in the US.

It’s not yet known whether the ‘Ted’ director will return for a second stint, however.

The 86th annual Academy Awards take place on March 2, 2014.

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