[7] In related events, the academy held its third annual Governors Awards ceremony at the Grand Ballroom of the Hollywood and Highland Center on November 12, 2011.

In light of the previous year's telecast, whose performance by co-hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway yielded critically negative reviews and a 9% decline in viewership, many within the Motion Picture Academy proposed new ways to give the awards a more populist appeal.

[31] However, after commenting to radio host Howard Stern during an interview promoting the film Tower Heist that "rehearsal is for fags" and disparaging remarks about actress Olivia Munn, Ratner resigned from his co-producing duties on November 8.

Musicians Hans Zimmer and Pharrell Williams composed new music exclusive to the Oscars ceremony, which was later released as an album via the iTunes Store.

[38] Director Bennett Miller filmed several vignettes featuring actors discussing movie memories and the business of filmmaking.

Only The Help (13th), Bridesmaids (14th), Kung Fu Panda 2 (15th), Puss in Boots (16th), Rango (22nd), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (28th), Moneyball (43rd), and War Horse (46th) were nominated for Best Picture, Best Animated Feature or any of the directing, acting or screenwriting awards.

[45] The other top 50 box office hits that earned nominations were Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (1st), Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2nd), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (11th), Rio (18th), The Muppets (34th), Real Steel (35th), and The Adventures of Tintin (47th).

He went on to say that the previous year's critically panned telecast was eclipsed by Crystal's dull antics and that the show itself was "poorly paced as any in recent memory.

Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly commented that despite the ceremony running over three hours and honoring films that had earned modest box office numbers, "it was a jolly good show."

[49] Film critic Roger Ebert lauded Crystal's performance saying "As probably the most popular Oscar emcee, he astonished the audience by topping himself."

[50] Associated Press critic Frazier Moore pointed out that Crystal's performance "was nothing new or unexpected in his act", but he extolled him for stewarding "a sleek and entertaining Oscarcast.

"[51] The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 39.46 million people over its length, which was a 4% increase from the previous year's ceremony.

[54] Many media outlets pointed out that the 54th Grammy Awards held two weeks earlier drew a larger audience with an average 39.92 million people watching.

[57] Two months later, the ceremony won one of those nominations for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special (Paul Sandweiss, Tommy Vicari, Pablo Munguia, Kristian Pedregon, Bob La Masney, Brian Riordan, Thomas Pesa, Michael Parker, Josh Morton, Patrick Baltzell, Larry Reed, and John Perez).

Singer Esperanza Spalding performed the Louis Armstrong song "What a Wonderful World" alongside the Southern California Children's Chorus during the tribute.