Actors James Franco and Anne Hathaway have been named co-hosts of the film industry’s upcoming Academy Awards, Oscar organizers said on Monday. The pair are starring in two movies that some experts believe could earn them nominations* for one of the world’s top movie honors when they are given out on February 27. Franco, 32, is starring in the real-life drama “127 Hours,” playing a man who cut off his own arm to free himself from being trapped* in a canyon* with no way to survive, and Hathaway, 28, portrays a free-spirited woman who falls for a drug salesman in “Love and Other Drugs.” “James Franco and Anne Hathaway personify* the next generation of Hollywood icons — fresh, exciting and multi-talented,” Oscar producers Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer said in a joint statement. Indeed, Oscar organizers have tried in past years to fine tune* the live television broadcast for younger movie fans. Although 2010’s ceremony paired veteran comedian Steve Martin and actor Alec Baldwin as co-hosts, the show previously had been hosted by “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” star Hugh Jackman and comedians Jon Stewart and Chris Rock, among others. The Oscars, or Academy Awards, are given out each year by the Beverly Hills-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and are typically the second-most watched TV program in the United States after the Super Bowl football championship. The telecast also is seen in more than 200 countries worldwide.(SD-Agencies)