Did the Golden Globes Finally Figure Out How to Award Best Popular Film?

Anne Thompson and Marcus Jones
·4 min read
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The Golden Globes continue to reform in unexpected ways: The rejiggered organization has introduced two new categories to its live awards show in January. While Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television is a bit more traditional, following the lead of the Emmys and the Grammys in having a dedicated category for stand-up comedy specials released on a recognized media platform, the other award builds upon a controversial premise first put forward by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2018. 

The Golden Globe for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement will include nominees from the year’s most acclaimed, highest-earning and/or most viewed films that have extensive global audience support. Eligibility will be measured by a mix of box office grosses and commensurate digital streaming viewership recognized by trusted industry sources. Films released after November 22 may qualify based on box office and/or streaming projections. Once a film qualifies, Golden Globes voters will determine the nominees and winner based on excellence.

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IndieWire’s Anne Thompson and Marcus Jones discuss if the Golden Globes have finally found a way to award what amounts to Best Popular Film. Or will this new category crash and burn like The Flash entering the speed force?

ANNE THOMPSON: Clearly, both new categories are naked bids for viewership. Remember, we still do not know which platform will host the 81st Golden Globes awards show, which is now owned by Eldridge and PMC CEOs Todd Boehly and Jay Penske, respectively. Negotiations with last year’s broadcast berth, NBC, which saw the lowest audience ever for the Globes, have not yielded an announcement. The Globes did nab last year’s lauded Oscar producers, Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner. And in a bid for extra credibility, PMC moved Variety’s senior awards analyst, Tim Gray, to become the Globes’ Executive Vice President, who stated: “The new Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award is more than rewarding the year’s top earning and most viewed motion pictures. These films have not been recognized among industry awards, but they should be.”

MARCUS JONES: What an incredibly odd year to introduce an idea that moves the needle so little, in terms of expanding viewership. With Cinematic and Box Office Achievement in particular, there is a very good chance that the Globes will be rewarding the year’s top earning and most viewed motion picture: 2023’s top earner “Barbie” was pegged for film awards before it was even released. Now it’s Warner Bros.’ highest-grossing film of all time. Looking down the list of films that have earned the most money domestically, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “Oppenheimer” are both in the top five. The former is the highly acclaimed sequel to a film that won Best Animated Feature both at the Golden Globes and the Oscars in 2019. The latter is the most successful biopic of all time, from a filmmaker who has already made two Best Picture nominees. Contrary to what Gray stated, the current crop of presumed frontrunners for this new category are very much the films recognized among industry awards.

ANNE THOMPSON: $150 million in worldwide gross is the minimum benchmark for this award, with $100 million drawn from stateside theater wickets, “and/or obtain commensurate digital streaming viewership recognized by trusted industry sources.” That vague language should make Netflix, Amazon, and AppleTV+ happy that they can enter the fray to become one of the category’s eight nominees.

MARCUS JONES: That is a good point. I was too worried about the prospect of “Sound of Freedom” making it in, given how it meets the box-office benchmark, but the Golden Globes left plenty of leeway for something more random like Netflix’s “Murder Mystery 2” to make it into the category based on the streaming service’s opaque Top 10 metrics. I welcome another opportunity for Adam Sandler to attend more awards, though. That may be the root of the other new category: Another pool of talent to coax into attending the live show, and possibly pick as host, with the added incentive of being a nominee.

ANNE THOMPSON: While Judd Apatow is not taking the standup comedy award seriously (he tweeted: “I can’t imagine a group of people who know less about comedy and stand up comedy voting on a best stand up award”), these two new categories may slightly move the needle toward helping the new Globes land a proper broadcast partner, even if it’s at a steep discount from the $60 million license fee they once commanded.

Will the Globes succeed where the Academy failed with its short-lived bid for a Best Popular Film in August 2018? That was perceived at the time as a desperate bid for survival, with the Academy bowing to pressure from ABC, which was anxious about historic low ratings for its telecast. The question asked repeatedly, which finally dive-bombed the whole idea, was what does popular have to do with best? Finally, everyone agreed that it was up to the Academy members to make that determination.

The Globes don’t have this problem. While the transitioning team at PMC harbors hopes that the tarnished brand can be refurbished and polished into a meaningful awards show, those days lie far ahead. The Globes, with a questionable membership body, some of whom are paid $75,000 a year to participate while other newer overseas voters are not, have a long way to go before Best Popular Film becomes a problem. The cynical Hollywood awards complex wants the Globes to exist as a means to an end: building up excitement for the ultimate end game, the Oscars.

The Globes will announce nominations on December 11, ahead of the awards show on January 7, 2024.

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