Hollywood’s biggest names will soon be descending upon Beverly Hills for the 81st Golden Globes, with two new categories bringing fresh life into the awards show after it spent years being marred by controversy.
The first fresh category, Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, purposely snubs all streaming platforms, meaning none of their latest releases can ever make the list of nominees except under one condition.
Theatrical blockbusters that were in cinemas can be nominated in this category as it ranks the year’s “highest-earning and/or most viewed films” as the announcement explained.
Films must earn a minimum of $150million (£117million) total box office gross, with $100million (£78million) from US domestic box office, in order to be eligible but Golden Globes president Helen Hoehne highlighted that it’s not all about the money as the flicks also need to be “artistically exceptional”.
Streamers such as Netflix and HBO would have to prove their film amassed a “commensurate digital streaming viewership recognized by trusted industry sources” to make the nominations list although it hasn’t been clarified who the “trusted industry sources” are.
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Additionally, for films that are released at the end of the year, therefore don’t have as much time to amass its box office earnings, the projected box office performance may be taken into account
For the 2024 awards show, the Golden Globes have avoided any confusion around streamers’ nominees with all nominations coming from major cinematic releases.
The frontrunners are currently Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.
Other nominees in the new category include: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, John Wick: Chapter 4, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The second new category celebrates the Best Stand-up Comedian on Television with six nominees being represented by their latest televised stand-up specials.
This includes Amy Schumer: Emergency Contact, Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love, Wanda Sykes: I’m an Entertainer, Ricky Gervais: Armageddon, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage and Trevor Noah: Where Was I?
Unarguably the most two talked about stand-up specials over the last year have been Chris Rock and Ricky Gervais’ Netflix numbers but both due to the controversy they stirred.
Chris’ Selective Outrage kicked off the streamer’s livestreaming initiative and addressed the infamous encounter between the comedian and Will Smith at the Academy Awards in 2022.
While Ricky’s relentless honesty in Armageddon saw the 62-year-old’s candid opinions of nearly everything from political correctness to the end of humanity and death itself garnering the comic a fair few critics online.