Impressively large but uneven, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures combines spacious exhibition spaces, large screens, and comparatively sparse collections of memorabilia to teach guests about the past and present of movie making. Exhibits identify and explain every historic part of production, including cameras and lenses, costuming, audio design, and animation, while spotlighting a handful of particularly impactful films and filmmakers – notably Casablanca, The Godfather, and Boys N the Hood. Rooms dedicated to the Oscars include a rotunda with statuettes, a gallery of notable winners, outfits, and acceptance speeches, and a separately paid experience where guests can touch and hold the awards. On the other hand, temporary exhibits (including a cyberpunk experience) are physically much smaller and shorter than expected; a VR headset presentation on modern virtual production greatly enhanced the latter experience, as did some great rooms featuring costumes and objects from recent sci-fi and superhero films.
Spread across six total floors – including a top floor with a bridge to an open-air gathering space (distantly) overlooking the Hollywood sign – The Museum of Motion Pictures offers free admission to kids 17 and under, and the ground floor includes a gift shop full of great items for cinephiles. It’s located immediately next to the famous LA County Museum of Art, across the street from the Petersen Automotive Museum, and a short walk from the La Brea Tar Pits, collectively making for an ideal one-day LA arts, culture, and history tourism itinerary. Flat-rate day parking for all of these destinations is around $20 – or less if you hunt around.
