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Barbie leads Golden Globe nominations, followed closely by Oppenheimer

The Greta Gerwig movie tied for second-most nominations in Globes history with Cabaret, from 1972

Greta Gerwig's Barbie dominated the Golden Globe Awards nominations with nine nods for the blockbuster film, including best picture musical or comedy as well as acting nominations for Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and three of its original songs.

It was closely followed by its release date and meme companion Oppenheimer, which scored eight nominations, including best picture drama and for actors Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt.

The revamped group, now a for-profit endeavour with a larger and more diverse voting body, announced nominations Monday for its January awards show, after scandal and several troubled years, including one without a broadcast. Cedric the Entertainer and Wilmer Valderrama presided over the announcements from the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where the show will also take place on January 7.

Films nominated for best motion picture drama included Oppenheimer, Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, Celine Song’s Past Lives, Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall and Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest.

In the best motion picture musical or comedy category, Barbie was joined by Air, American Fiction, The Holdovers, May December and Poor Things.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things and Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon both received seven nominations each. Poor Things saw nominations for Lanthimos, its actors Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Tony McNamara for screenplay and Jerskin Fendrix for score. Killers of the Flower Moon got nods for Scorsese, for direction and co-writing the screenplay with Eric Roth, and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro.

Barbie tied for second-most nominations in Globes history with Cabaret, from 1972. Robert Altman’s Nashville remains the record-holder with 11 nominations. It went into the morning as a favourite top, and got a big boost from its three original song nominations, including I'm Just Ken, and one of the year’s new categories, recognising cinematic and box office achievement. One person who was not nominated was America Ferrera, who delivered the movie's most memorable monologue.

Succession was the top-nominated television programme, with nine nods including for series stars Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin.

The box office achievement category nominated eight films, including Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Oppenheimer, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Mission: Impossible -Dead Reckoning, John Wick: Chapter 4 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Several years ago the Oscars attempted to add a similar “popular film” category, but it proved to be an immensely unpopular decision and was scuttled amid backlash.

As always there were some big surprises, like Jennifer Lawrence getting nominated for her bawdy R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings for best performance by a female actor in a musical or comedy. She was nominated alongside Robbie, Stone and Fantasia Barrino (The Color Purple), Natalie Portman (May December) and Alma Pöysti (Fallen Leaves).

The Color Purple was expected to do better with the Golden Globes. The adaption of the stage musical got only two nominations total for Barrino and Danielle Brooks for her supporting performance.

Cord Jefferson’s comedy American Fiction also came up with only two nods, best musical or comedy and for lead actor Jeffrey Wright.

Sofia Coppola’s widely acclaimed Priscilla got only one nomination, for actor Cailee Spaeny’s portrayal of Priscilla Presley. Her category mates in best female performance in a drama include Gladstone, Annette Bening for Nyad, Sandra Hüller for Anatomy of a Fall, Greta Lee for Past Lives and Carey Mulligan for Maestro.

The Globes won’t have to worry about anyone criticizing its “all male” directors this year, however. Gerwig was nominated as was Celine Song, for her romantic debut Past Lives, alongside Nolan, Scorsese, Cooper and Lanthimos.

Netflix got the most nominations overall, with 13 total for a slate which included Maestro, May December and Rustin, followed by Warner Bros., which made Barbie, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Color Purple with 12.

Ridley Scott’s Napoleon was not nominated at all. Instead, its star Joaquin Phoenix was recognised for Beau is Afraid in the lead actor comedy/musical category, with Wright, Matt Damon (Air), Nicolas Cage (Dream Scenario), Timothée Chalamet (Wonka) and Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers). Michael Mann's Ferrari, with Adam Driver, also got zero nominations.

The 81st Golden Globe Awards will be the first major broadcast of awards season, with a new home on CBS. And while to audiences it might look similar on the surface, it’s been tumultuous few years behind the scenes following a bombshell report in the Los Angeles Times. The 2021 report found that there were no Black members in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which votes on the awards.

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Stars and studios boycotted the Globes and NBC refused to air it in 2022 as a result. After the group added journalists of color to its ranks and instituted other reforms to address ethical concerns, the show came back in January 2023 in a one-year probationary agreement with NBC. The network did not opt to renew.

In June, billionaire Todd Boehly was granted approval to dissolve the HFPA and reinvent the Golden Globes as a for-profit organisation. Its assets were acquired by Boehly’s Eldridge Industries, along with Dick Clark Productions, a group that is owned by Penske Media whose assets also include Variety, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone and Billboard. In mid-November, CBS announced that it would air the ceremony on the network on January 7. It will also stream on Paramount+.

The Golden Globe Awards had long been one of the highest-profile awards season broadcasts, second only to the Oscars.