The 2025 awards season has officially kicked off with the Golden Globes, which happened earlier this month. The Golden Globes is unique, as it features awards for both films and television shows. This year’s ceremony had huge wins, but not everyone was happy with the results. While there was certainly a lot of discourse about the award show, we also should consider what this means for the Oscars.
The FX series Shogun was awarded four Golden Globes, being the most nominated series, which is unsurprising considering its five Emmy wins in 2024. Baby Reindeer and Hacks also took home two awards. A majority of the winning shows either won Emmys in 2024 or were already nominated, so audiences will need to wait for new releases for any hints of what could be nominated at the Emmys this year.
Demi Moore won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Musical or Comedy, beating out stars like Cynthia Erivo for Wicked and Zendaya for Challengers. In her acceptance speech, she said, “I’ve been doing this a long time like over 45 years, and this is the first time I’ve ever won anything as an actor.” This award is a long time coming for Moore, and I truly think she deserved it for her role in The Substance.
The Golden Globe for Best Director of a Motion Picture went to Brady Corbet for The Brutalist, but the real snub comes not from the winner, but the nominees. Neither Luca Guadagnino nor Denis Villeneuve was nominated for Best Director, which is surprising considering they both had major films in 2024: Villeneuve with the box-office smash Dune: Part Two, and Guadagnino with Challengers and Queer. Perhaps these directors will be recognized at the Oscars, but we won’t know for some time.
The film that received the most wins was Netflix’s film titled Emilia Perez, which won four awards. Despite being the victor of the night, the film received lots of criticism on social media. On Twitter, user @holyforbizzle said Emilia Perez is “…a film about Mexicans…with a [synopsis] that portrays harmful stereotypes of mexican/latin culture, winning best international film seems like a joke.” Another user, @chrrypm, said, “emilia perez winning after the french director said he didn’t care about doing research on Mexican culture…okay.” The controversy primarily focuses on the fact that the director, who is French, seemingly appropriated Mexican culture and included stereotypes rather than authentic portrayals.
This distaste isn’t just seen on social media though. At the ceremony, Director Luca Guadagnino left the Golden Globes early after Emilia Perez won the award for Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
While the movie itself may not be received well by all, Zoe Saldana’s win is a triumph, as she played the lead in the film. She said, “this is a first time for me” in her acceptance speech, which is shocking considering her career and the iconic blockbusters she’s starred in, such as Avatar.
What does this mean for the Oscars?
Oscar nominations come out Jan. 17. But, of course, we won’t know the winners until the ceremony on March 2. The Golden Globes divides acting wins into two separate awards by genre, whereas only one actor can get the Oscar. That being said, in the past few years, the Golden Globes’ main acting awards have crossed over with the Oscars.
Last year, all acting Oscar award winners additionally won the Golden Globe acting award that year. In 2023, two out of four acting Oscar award winners were also Golden Globe winners. In 2022, two out of four actors won both Oscars and Golden Globes. This pattern could indicate some future Oscar winners, but we won’t know for sure until a few more months.