While the Academy Awards exclusively covers movies and the Emmys exclusively covers TV shows, the Golden Globes cover excellent both mediums. As such, there’s no question this is one of the most important awards shows, but there’s a major shakeup for it that’s been announced. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HPFA), which founded the Golden Globes, is out, so needless to say it’s worth going over why this is such an important change.
It was announced today that after nearly 80 years of the HPFA running the Golden Globes, all of the awards show’s assets, rights and properties have been acquired by Dick Clark Productions (DCP) and Eldridge, with the former having produced the telecasts for more than three decades. This will result in the “winddown of the HPFA and its membership,” and the proceeds from this transaction, plus the HPFA’s resources, will be used to create the Golden Globe Foundation, “which will continue the legacy HPFA’s history of entertainment-related charitable giving.” The 81st Golden Globe Awards is still slated to air on Sunday, January 7, 2024, and DCP and its partners will “pursue commercial opportunities” for the ceremony across the world."
Right off the bat, the new Golden Globes ownership calls into question how the awards in these ceremonies will be selected. The HPFA members voted on the recipients of these trophies, so with that organization being dissolved, how will it be decided which movies and TV shows, and their associated talent, take home the gold? While the specifics weren’t clarified in the announcement, Todd Boehly, Chairman of Eldridge, said there will be an “expansion of the diverse and international voting body,” so there will still be a group of people coming together to vote. Who will make up this new body, and how they’re selected, remains to be seen.
DCP’s acquisition of the Golden Globes and the dissolution of the HPFA also comes several years after the latter faced scrutiny for the lack of Black representation in its membership. This resulted in Amazon and Netflix cutting ties with the HPFA until reforms were made, Scarlett Johansson denouncing the HPFA and Tom Cruise even returning the three Golden Globes he’d won. Ultimately the Golden Globes weren’t broadcast in 2022, but the ceremony returned to the airwaves this year on January 10, with the big winners in the 80th Golden Globe Awards including The Fabelmans for Best Picture - Drama, The Banshees of Inisherin for Best Picture - Musical or Comedy, House of the Dragon for Best Drama Series and Abbott Elementary for Best Musical or Comedy Series. Now under the new ownership, it’ll be interesting to see how this new era of Golden Globes will differ from the decades before, and how many elements of the award show will remain the same.
We’re still a long ways off from learning about who and what will be up for recognition at the 81st Golden Globe Awards next year, but we’ll share the nominees once they’re announced. In the meantime, use our 2023 movie release schedule and 2023 TV schedule to learn what’s left to come out this year.
