What to expect at today's Golden Globes

11:47 am on 8 January 2024

Barbie (2023), directed by Greta Gerwig, starring Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie.

Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie are the stars of Barbie. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures - Heyday F / Collection ChristopheL via AFP

Margot Robbie, Oprah Winfrey and Leonardo DiCaprio will mingle with other top stars on Sunday (US time) at the Golden Globe awards, Hollywood's first big celebration since twin strikes shut down most of show business last year.

The red carpet, champagne-fuelled awards ceremony will honour the best of film and television selected by a new group of 300 entertainment journalists from around the world, part of reforms made after a diversity and ethics scandal among voters.

Barbie, the US summer blockbuster starring Robbie as the legendary doll, leads all nominees with nine nominations. Historical drama Oppenheimer, about the making of the atomic bomb, follows with eight nods.

The Globes kick off Hollywood's annual awards season, which culminates with the Oscars on 10 March, and will bring top stars together after six months of strikes by actors and writers in 2023. The ceremony will give celebrities the chance to shine a spotlight on their films and TV shows after months when promotion was prohibited.

"I'm a little biased, but this is the best awards show and we're going to have fun," said comedian Jo Koy, who will host his first major awards show.

Acting nominees include Robbie and Barbie co-star Ryan Gosling, plus Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro, who starred in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, also are up for trophies.

Winfrey is among the night's presenters. Pop superstar Taylor Swift also may join the A-list crowd as a nominee for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, her concert film that is in the running in a new category for cinematic and box office achievement.

In the television field, Succession is expected to win accolades for its final season about the high-stakes battle for control of a global media empire. It leads all nominees with nine nods, followed by restaurant dramedy The Bear with five.

There are 27 first-time nominees for this year's Globes.

Known as a boozy celebration more relaxed than the Oscars, the Globes nearly became extinct. A 2021 Los Angeles Times report revealed ethical lapses and a lack of diversity among the roughly 80 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the group that previously voted on the Globes.

The 2022 ceremony was scrapped while the organisation made reforms.

Last year, the Globes were sold to new owners and the association was disbanded. Eldridge Industries and Dick Clark Productions now operate the awards, with a voting body of 300 journalist members from 75 countries with 60 percent racial and ethnic diversity.

The changes appear to have persuaded Hollywood's top talent to embrace the show and its new members.

"They're trying to announce that they're new and improved," said Joyce Eng, senior editor at awards website Gold Derby. "I feel like people are more receptive to them."

The nominations in the film categories include:

Best picture - drama

Anatomy of a Fall
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
The Zone of Interest

(L-R) US actor Matt Damon, British Actor Emily Blunt, Irish actor Cillian Murphy and British Actor Florence Pugh pose on the red carpet upon arrival for the UK premiere of "Oppenheimer" in central London on July 13, 2023. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)

From left: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, r Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh pose on the red carpet after arriving for the UK premiere of Oppenheimer in central London on July 13, 2023. Photo: AFP / Henry Nicholls

Best picture - musical/comedy