The summer box-office sensation known as “Barbenheimer” — the concurrent releases of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — led the film nominations announced Monday for the revamped 81st Golden Globe Awards, while HBO’s “Succession” topped the television nominees.
“Barbie” and “Succession” each earned nine awards to claim the prizes as the leading film and television nominees. “Oppenheimer” was a close second on the film side, collecting eight nominations.
Greta Gerwig’s film that brought Mattel’s iconic American toy doll to the big screen scored nominations for best motion picture-musical or comedy; best director-motion picture for Gerwig; best female actor in a musical or comedy for Margot Robbie; best male supporting actor in any motion picture for Ryan Gosling; best screenplay-motion picture (Gerwig); three nods for best original song-motion picture; and cinematic and box office achievement, a new category this year.
Joining “Barbie” in the best motion picture-musical or comedy category were “Air,” “American Fiction,” “The Holdovers,” “May December” and “Poor Things.”
“Oppenheimer,” the story of atomic bomb mastermind Robert J. Oppenheimer, garnered eight nominations, including best picture-drama; best director-motion picture for Christopher Nolan; best male actor in a motion picture-drama for Cillian Murphy; best female supporting actor in any motion picture for Emily Blunt; best male supporting actor in any motion picture for Robert Downey Jr.; best screenplay; best original score; and cinematic and box office achievement.
“Oppenheimer” will compete in the best motion picture-drama category with “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Maestro,” “Past Lives” and “The Zone of Interest.”
Joining Gerwig and Nolan in the best director category were Bradley Cooper for “Maestro,” Yorgos Lanthimos for “Poor Things,” Martin Scorsese for “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Celine Song for “Past Lives.”
“Succession,” which concluded its much-decorated four-year run this year, is going out in style with its nine nominations — breaking the single-season record of eight nods previously established by “The Thorn Birds” in 1984 and “L.A. Law” in 1990.
The tale of a family’s internal battles to succeed an aging media mogul, “Succession” took nominations for best drama series; three for best male actor (Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin); best female actor for Sarah Snook; best female supporting actor for J. Smith-Cameron; and three more for best male supporting actor (Alan Ruck, Alexander Skarsgard and Matthew Macfadyen).
In the film categories, “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Poor Things” scored seven nominations each, while “Past Lives,” took five.
On the TV side, following “Succession,” FX’s “The Bear” and Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” each received five nominations.
Now under new management following a June sale to Dick Clark Productions and the dissolution of the scandal-scarred Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Golden Globes mark the official opening of the 2024 Hollywood awards season.
Monday’s nominations were announced by Cedric The Entertainer and Wilmer Valderrama during an early morning livestream broadcast from the Beverly Hilton hotel, the home of the Globes ceremony.
The 2024 winners will be revealed Jan. 7, with the show broadcast on CBS. There has been no announcement of who will host the event.
The ceremony will culminate a 2023 that saw seismic organizational changes and major image burnishing as the Globes looked to restore their luster.
Beginning in 2022, the HFPA came under fire for a historic lack of Black members, along with questions about ethical standards for members and voters. Under the new set-up, the HFPA was dissolved, the Globes were sold to Dick Clark Productions and voter diversity was prioritized.
“This has been a year of exciting change for the Golden Globes,” Helen Hoehne, president of the organization, said at the start of Monday’s announcements.
“Not only are we starting a new partnership with CBS network, but our voting body has grown to 300 members from 75 countries, making the Golden Globes the most culturally diverse major awards body.”
The voting body includes international voters from countries including Armenia, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Serbia and Tanzania, according to the organization.
The new set-up also includes two new categories this year — recognizing cinematic and box office achievement in motion pictures, and best stand-up comedian on television.
In addition, six nominees were named for most categories, up from the usual five.
In other major film categories announced Monday, nominations went to:
— Best performance by a male actor in a motion picture-drama: Bradley Cooper for “Maestro,” Leonardo DiCaprio for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Colman Domingo, for “Rustin,” Barry Keoghan for “Saltburn,” Murphy for “Oppenheimer” and Andrew Scott for “All of Us Strangers.
— Best performance by a female actor in a motion picture-drama: Annette Bening for “Nyad,” Lily Gladstone for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Sandra Huller for “Anatomy of a Fall,” Greta Lee for “Past Lives,” Carey Mulligan for “Maestro” and Cailee Spaeny for “Priscilla.”
— Best performance by a male actor in a motion picture-musical or comedy: Nicolas Cage for “Dream Scenario,” Timothée Chalamet for “Wonka,” Matt Damon for “Air,” Paul Giamatti for “The Holdovers,” Joaquin Phoenix for “Beau is Afraid” and Jeffrey Wright for “American Fiction.”
— Best performance by a female actor in a motion picture-musical or comedy: Fantasia Barrino for “The Color Purple,” Jennifer Lawrence for “No Hard Feelings,” Natalie Portman for “May December,” Alma Poysti for “Fallen Leaves,” Robbie for “Barbie” and Emma Stone for “Poor Things.”
On the TV side, the competitors to “Succession” in the best drama series category are “1923,” “The Crown,” “The Diplomat,” “The Last of Us” and “The Morning Show.”
For best TV series-musical or comedy, the nominations went to “Abbott Elementary,” “Barry,” “The Bear,” “Jury Duty,” “Only Murders in the Building” and “Ted Lasso.
Other major TV nominations went to:
— Best performance by a male actor in a television series-drama: Cox, Culkin and Strong for “Succession,” Gary Oldman for “Slow Horses,” Pedro Pascal for “The Last of Us” and Dominic West for “The Crown.”
— Best performance by a female actor in a television series-drama: Helen Mirren for “1923,” Bella Ramsey for “The Last of Us,” Keri Russsell for “The Diplomat,” Snook for “Succession,” Imelda Staunton for “The Crown” and Emma Stone for “The Curse.”
— Best performance by a male actor-musical or comedy: Bill Hader for “Barry,” Steve Martin and Martin Short for “Only Murders in the Building,” Jason Segel for “Shrinking,” Jason Sudeikis for “Ted Lasso” and Jeremy Allen White for “The Bear.”
— Best performance by a female actor-musical or comedy: Rachel Brosnahan for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Quinta Brunson for “Abbott Elementary,” Ayo Edebiri for “The Bear,” Elle Fanning for “The Great,” Selena Gomez for “Only Murders in the Building” and Natasha Lyonne for “Poker Face.”
In the new category of best performance in stand-up comedy on television, nominations went to Amy Schumer, Chris Rock, Ricky Gervais, Sarah Silverman, Trevor Noah and Wanda Sykes.
Meryl Streep was nominated for best television supporting actress for her appearance in “Only Murders in the Building,” padding her own record for most career Globe nominations, which now stands at 33.
The Globes have a mixed history in acting as a predictor of which films will have success on Oscar night.
Since 1963, when the Golden Globes divided its film category into two formats — drama and musical/comedy — nearly 62% of the films that ended up with best picture Academy Awards had first received a Golden Globe.
The Golden Globe drama winner has gone on to win a best picture Oscar 29 of 60 times. The musical/comedy winner has won eight times at the Oscars, most recently in 2019, when “Green Book” won the Academy Award for best picture.
During the 80th Golden Globes in January, the best drama picture honor went to “The Fabelmans” while “The Banshees of Inisherin” was named best comedy/musical film. The Oscar, however, went to “Everything, Everywhere All at Once.”