Emilia Perez, The Brutalist lead Golden Globe film nominations

BEVERLY HILLS, California – Musical thriller Emilia Perez and post-World War II epic The Brutalist topped the roster of films nominated on Dec 9 for the 2025 Golden Globes, the Hollywood honours that kick off the awards season leading to the Oscars.

Emilia Perez, a Spanish-language movie released by Netflix, scored 10 nods, and independent distributor A24’s The Brutalist earned seven.

Both movies will compete for the top Globes honour – Best Film Drama – with papal selection story Conclave, Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, science-fiction epic Dune: Part Two, historical drama Nickel Boys and September 5, the story of sports journalists who covered a hostage crisis at the Olympics.

Box-office smash Wicked, adapted from a long-running Broadway play about the witches in The Wizard Of Oz (1939), landed four nominations. It faces dark romantic comedy Anora and others in the Best Movie Musical Or Comedy category.

The Globe nominations can help movies in the race to the Academy Awards in March. The Hollywood strikes in 2023 scrambled the release schedule in 2024, and awards pundits say there is no clear front runner for Best Picture at the Oscars.

Winners of the Globes will be chosen by 334 entertainment journalists from 85 countries, compared with roughly 9,000 voters who select the Academy Awards. The Globes voting body was expanded in recent years and organisers instituted reforms after criticisms for ethical lapses and a lack of diversity.

American comedian Nikki Glaser will host the Jan 5 Globes ceremony for the first time. The show, in the past a booze-fuelled and more freewheeling occasion than the Oscars, will be broadcast live on CBS and streamed on Paramount+.

Emilia Perez stars American actress Zoe Saldana as a lawyer who helps a drug cartel leader (Spanish transgender actress Karla Sofia Gascon) fake his death and transition from a man to a woman. American singer-actress Selena Gomez co-stars as the cartel leader’s wife. All three were nominated by Globes voters for acting honours.

Streaming service Netflix, which gives movies only a limited run in cinemas and has never won the prestigious Best Picture Oscar, overpowered traditional studios to grab a total of 13 film nominations. The company also outpaced rivals in Globe TV nods with 23.

“It is a reminder of just how dominant that streaming platform is,” said Mr Michael Schneider, TV editor at Hollywood publication Variety.

Movie nominee The Brutalist features American actor Adrien Brody, also a Globe acting nominee, in an epic tale of a Hungarian immigrant who flees the horrors of World War II to rebuild his life in the United States.

Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande also received acting nominations, as did American actress Angelina Jolie for her portrayal of opera singer Maria Callas in Maria and American actress Zendaya for sports romance Challengers.

American-French actor Timothee Chalamet received a nod for his portrayal of music legend Dylan in A Complete Unknown, as did co-star American actor Edward Norton, who plays folk singer Pete Seeger.

Romanian-American actor Sebastian Stan was nominated for his role as US President-elect Donald Trump in The Apprentice, along with American actor Jeremy Strong, who played Trump’s late attorney Roy Cohn. Trump has called the film “a politically disgusting hatchet job”.

In TV categories, restaurant tale The Bear received five nominations. Mystery comedy Only Murders In The Building and historical epic Shogun earned four each. South Korean survival thriller Squid Game 2 has been nominated for Best Drama Series ahead of its release on Dec 26. REUTERS