8 Takeaways From the Golden Globes and What They Mean for the Oscars: Oppenheimer Reigns

Posted by Larita Shotwell on Thursday, February 15, 2024

“Barbie” may have won the box office battle, but “Oppenheimer” won the awards.

The Golden Globes Awards cemented Christopher Nolan’s historical drama as the Oscar frontrunner and made other contenders re-group and re-think their campaign strategies. As Hollywood recovers from an epic night of schmoozing and partying, it’s a good time to take stock of the state of the awards race. Here are eight takeaways from the 2024 Golden Globes.

Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Oscars predictions in all categories.

“Oppenheimer” flexed its Oscar muscle.

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Universal Pictures’ after-party was the place to be on Sunday, with the studio’s executives and the Nolan crew giddy over their haul. And they had every right to be. After all, “Oppenheimer” walked away with five statuettes, the most of any film. Most notable was its best picture (drama) triumph over its closest competitor, “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

Plus, Nolan received his first major industry prize for directing, a surprising gap in his awards chest given that he is a master filmmaker whose credits include “The Dark Knight,” “Inception” and “Dunkirk.” He also delivered a moving and gracious speech, recalling that the last time he was on the Globes stage was to accept Heath Ledger’s posthumous supporting actor statue.

“Oppenheimer” is your current frontrunner. Can it maintain its momentum down the stretch?

“Barbie” stumbled, but the “Barbenheimer” Oscar battle still rages.

It may seem wrong to say that a movie that won two awards stumbled, but given that “Barbie” tied the record for the second-most Globe nominations in history (and most of the night), it should have done a whole lot better.

Now, there is such a thing as “doing too well” regarding nominations. Setting or tying records can put a target on a film’s back. The mistake would be to read “Barbie’s” loss to “Poor Things” in best picture (comedy) as a sign that “it’s over” for the movie in terms of its ultimate Oscar chances. Academy darlings have stumbled at the Globes before rebounding later in the awards season. Look at “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (2014) beating future best picture winner “Birdman” or last year’s “The Banshees of Inisherin” topping the eventual sweeper, “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

It ain’t over until the final Oscar ballot has been cast.

Everything’s coming up Giamatti.

Focus Features’ “The Holdovers” has been surging for weeks, which surely helped Giamatti, and supporting actress winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph cross the finish line. An Oscar nominee for “Cinderella Man” (2005), Giamatti is one of those actors that people are rooting for to have his moment. And his acceptance speech, where he paid tribute to teachers, was self-effacing and expertly delivered.

Still, Giamatti faces stiff competition. Cillian Murphy won the prize for best actor in a drama for his haunting work as J. Robert Oppenheimer and could repeat at the Oscars if “Oppenheimer” sweeps the major categories. And don’t count out Bradley Cooper, whose transformation into Leonard Bernstein in “Maestro” is a marvel, or Jeffrey Wright, the well-respected character actor who finally gets a leading role worthy of his talents in “American Fiction.”

Lily Gladstone saves “Killers of the Flower Moon” from having a very bad night.

When “Anatomy of a Fall” won non-English language and, surprisingly, best screenplay, the Apple team must have gotten nervous. Lily Gladstone was heavily favored to win lead actress (drama) but a Sandra Hüller victory seemed to be brewing. If “Killers” had lost all its seven noms, it would have tied for the most losses in Globes history.

But Gladstone’s well-deserved win made her the first Indigenous person to claim that prize. Her powerful speech, noting what her victory meant to her community will elevate her candidacy and could carry her all the way to the Oscar stage.

France blew it.

The French selection committee for the Oscar’s best international feature race must be kicking themselves. Not only did their eventual selection, “The Taste of Things,” get snubbed by the Globes, but “Anatomy,” which won the Palme d’Or, has racked up the most precursors of the season for any international title.

Now, it has a viable shot to earn nominations for original screenplay, actress, and best picture. And it would have probably won the statue for best international feature, giving France its first win in over 30 years, if the committee hadn’t blown it.

Supporting actor: TBD.

Robert Downey Jr. has led in the precursor awards, and his victory for “Oppenheimer“ puts him in a good position to capture his first Oscar after two career noms: “Chaplin” (1992) and “Tropic Thunder” (2008). It would be an appropriate acknowledgment of Downey’s incredible career — one that had its fair share of dramatic ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies.

And yet…there’s still plenty of season left. Ryan Gosling’s hilarious turn as Ken in “Barbie” feels like a slam dunk for either Critics Choice or SAG. And don’t discount “Poor Things” scene-stealers Willem Dafoe or Mark Ruffalo from earning the prize, provided they don’t cancel each other out.

Billie Eilish should make some room on her mantelpiece.

Billie Eilish and Finneas, the superstar siblings are becoming the surest thing to bet on for the Oscars after their emotional chart-topper “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie” took the original song prize at the Globes. The pair are already winners for the title track of”No Time to Die.” If she wins again, Eilish, 22, would become the fourth woman to win two Oscars before she turns 30, joining Luise Rainer, Jodie Foster and Hilary Swank.

Animated feature is closer than we think.

Sony Pictures’ “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” looked locked and loaded for the Oscars after receiving critical acclaim and bringing in a massive box office haul of over $690 million globally. Then came GKids’ “The Boy and the Heron” from 82-year-old Hayao Miyazaki.

After the Globes went with Miyazaki, the animated feature race has become a toss-up. Will the Oscars honor a cinematic giant or recognize the boundary-pushing team behind the Spider-Verse?

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