Golden Globe Noms Analysis: Three Big Takeaways

The nominations for the 2026 Golden Globe Awards, which were announced on Monday, struck me as interesting for three specific reasons…

1. THEY WERE TRULY GLOBAL

Non-English-language films showed up everywhere.

Of the six slots for best picture (drama), there were three, It Was Just an Accident, The Secret Agent and Sentimental Value; for best picture (musical/comedy), there were two, No Other Choice and Nouvelle Vague; and for best animated feature, there were three, Arco, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle and Little Amélie or the Character of Rain.

For best director and best screenplay, there were two, in both cases Jafar Panahi for It Was Just an Accident and Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value. In the acting races, Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent got in for best actor (drama); Lee Byung-Hun for No Other Choice got in for best actor (musical/comedy); Renate Reinsve for Sentimental Value got in for best actress (drama); and both Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for Sentimental Value got in for best supporting actress (Fanning’s part is in English). Even in score, the Spanish-language film Sirāt landed a (well deserved) nom.

The Golden Globes have always been voted on primarily by non-Americans, but up until two years ago they were chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of around 100 people based in and around LA, who primarily celebrated Hollywood types. Then, the HFPA was sold and its existing members were either disinvited from or absorbed into the new Golden Globes organization, which then brought into the membership hundreds of new voters based all around the world. Additionally, Globes noms are now determined not just by members, but also by non-member voters from FIPRESCI, an international federation of critics who attend many of the major film festivals across the globe.

Clearly, this global influence is being felt. Indeed, in each of the years since the dissolution of the HFPA, the presence of non-English-language films in the major Globes categories has been notably bigger than it used to be. But five of the 12 best picture slots? That’s a new record.

2. THEY LEANED VERY FAR ART HOUSE

In a year in which a number of high-profile awards contenders are also blockbusters, strikingly few of those blockbusters managed to crack into the best picture Globes categories.

Universal’s Wicked: For Good, 20th Century’s Avatar: Fire and Ash, Apple/Warners’ F1: The Movie and Warners’ Weapons all missed out in those top races and instead had to settle for recognition in the cinematic/box office achievement category —even as voters nominated both of Wicked: For Good’s stars (lead actress Cynthia Erivo and supporting actress Ariana Grande) and original songs (“The Girl in the Bubble” and “No Place Like Home”), Amy Madigan’s supporting performance for Weapons, Hans Zimmer’s score for F1 and Miley Cyrus’ song “Dream As One” for Avatar: Fire and Ash.

(Incidentally, I’m not sure how Avatar: Fire and Ash can be hailed as a box office achievement quite yet, given that it hasn’t even been released, or how KPop Demon Hunters is nominated in that category, since it spent only a short time in theaters before dropping on Netflix, where it became a phenomenon.)

In fact, the only best picture Globe nominees that have really sold a lot of tickets at the box office are Warners’ One Battle After Another (which led the field with nine noms, tying Barbie and Cabaret as the third-most nominated film ever) and Sinners. The other best picture nominees include Sony Classics’ Blue Moon and Netflix’s Nouvelle Vague, which both are excellent films directed by Richard Linklater, but have grossed just $2 million and $1 million respectively.

I’m not saying that this is a good thing or a bad thing, but clearly the output of the big studios is less of interest to the current crop of Golden Globes voters than is art house fare, given the above, as well as the facts that Neon led all distributors with 21 film noms (including a stunning five of the six foreign language nominees), five more than any other distributor, and that GKIDS and WILLA landed as many noms as Paramount.

3. THEY REFLECTED FAR LESS STAR-FUCKING THAN IN YEARS PAST

There was a time when being an A-lister associated with a movie that was at least passable, if that, was all but a guarantee of a Golden Globe nom. Apparently, those days are over.

Among those missing out on noms this morning were Sydney Sweeney for Christy, Brad Pitt for F1: The Movie, Jennifer Lopez for Kiss of the Spider Woman, Channing Tatum for Roofman, Gwyneth Paltrow for Marty Supreme, Jeremy Strong for Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, Ed Sheeran for F1: The Movie and Zootopia 2, Tate McRae for F1: The Movie and Shakira for Zootopia 2 — all of whom actually had strong arguments for a nom.

They were bounced by the likes of Joel Egerton for Train Dreams, Eva Victor for Sorry, Baby, Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for Sentimental Value — all of whom did excellent work, but might not have made the cut with the old HFPA.

Don’t worry, though, plenty of big names will still be in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton for the Golden Globes on Jan. 11, 2026. In addition to a bunch of A-listers whose noms were slam-dunks —among them One Battle After Another’s Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn, Marty Supreme’s Timothée Chalamet, Sinners’ Michael B. Jordan and Bugonia’s Emma Stone —a handful of others landed noms that were more up in the air. Among them: Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt for The Smashing Machine, George Clooney for Jay Kelly, Julia Roberts for After the Hunt, Jennifer Lawrence for Die My Love and Kate Hudson for Song Sung Blue.

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Disclaimer:Golden Globes producer Dick Clark Productions is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge that also ownsThe Hollywood Reporter.