Hollywood stars prepare to dance the night away as box office explodes barbie leads the nominees for Sunday's Golden Globes, kicking off the industry's prestigious awards season.
The first major party in Tinseltown since last year's contentious labor disputes, the Globes will honor the best in film and television according to about 300 entertainment journalists from around the world. This is a change from the past, when around 80 people chose the winners.
Barbie, the adventure of the doll that empowers women, leads the pack with nine nominations. The film directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie should win the trophy for best musical or comedy film. The leftovers, the poor things and others, according to experts interviewed by the Gold Derby site.
Historical drama Oppenheimer, with eight nominations, is the favorite for best drama film. The story of the man behind the atomic bomb had rivaled barbie over the summer, in a box office clash dubbed Barbenheimer.
barbie became the highest-grossing film of 2023 with $1.4 billion in ticket sales. Oppenheimer finished third with $952 million.
“I can see them both doing really well on Sunday night,” Gold Derby editor Joyce Eng said.
Robbie and Ryan Gosling, who played Barbie's boyfriend Ken, are nominated in the acting categories, as are Cillian Murphy, who played J. Robert Oppenheimer, and his co-star Robert Downey Jr.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone vie for Globe acting honors for Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese's film about the murder of Native Americans in the 1920s Oklahoma.
Bradley Cooper is up for best actor and best director for Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro.
The Globes are the first major awards ceremony since Hollywood endured two bitter strikes by writers and then actors last year. The work stoppages halted film and television production, as well as many red carpet events, for months.
Known as a more relaxed, boozy celebration than the Oscars, the Globes nearly disappeared. A 2021 Los Angeles Times report found ethical lapses and a lack of diversity among members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the group that previously voted on the Globes. The 2022 ceremony was scrapped while the organization made reforms.
Last year, the Globes were sold to new owners and the association dissolved. Eldridge Industries and Dick Clark Productions now manage the awards, with a voting body made up of 300 journalist members from 75 countries with 60% racial and ethnic diversity.
There are 27 first-time nominees for this year's Globes.
Hollywood's top talent appears poised to move forward with the Globes, said Chris Gardner, senior editor of the Hollywood Reporter.
“They love a good party and they also love recognition,” Gardner said. “It’s a looser show than other shows you see on television.”
Sunday's ceremony will be hosted by comedian Jo Koy, a comedian of Filipino origin, in his first major hosting gig. It will air live on CBS and simulcast for Paramount+ subscribers with Showtime.
One possible A-list guest is pop superstar Taylor Swift. His concert film, Taylor Swift: the era tour, was nominated in the new film and box office achievement category. It is unclear whether she will attend the ceremony.
In television, “Succession” is expected to win praise for its final season because of the high-stakes battle for control of a global media empire. It tops all nominees with nine nominations, followed by the restaurant comedy-drama The bear with five.
Film award winners are being watched closely because they can provide a boost to the Oscar race in March.
The Globes, however, have been known in the past for their unexpected choices. Awards watchers will be looking to see if that changes with a broader voting body.
One category to watch, Eng said, is best original song, where three barbie the songs are in competition. This is the introspective “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa's upbeat “Dance the Night” and Gosling's mournful power ballad “I'm Just Ken.”
“It would be pure folly for the Globes to give it to 'I'm Just Ken,'” Eng said. “It’s like an original song and it’s kind of offbeat.”