A great many people seemed to like Hugh Jackman’s stint hosting the Oscars last year. I find myself pretty indifferent. At least he wasn’t Whoopi. It could always be worse and in fact it may be worse in 2010 because despite rumors to the contrary, Jackman won’t be back.

Variety says that Hugh was offered the job again and this time he turned it down. His reasons aren’t disclosed, but Hugh may want to space his Oscar hosting duties out in order to avoid two in a row, or he may simply be too busy. He’s currently in the middle of doing a Broadway play with Daniel Craig and of course there’s no shortage of upcoming movies with his name on them. Hugh has better things to do than hand out statues.

Here’s a quick reminder of what Jackman brought to the Academy Award hosting table, in the form of his opening number from this year’s Oscars;