LOS ANGELES (BLOOMBERG) - Netflix and Walt Disney emerged as the big winners at the Golden Globe awards, taking home most of the evening's prizes for their films and television shows, in an awards show tailor-made for the unusual pandemic-affected times.
Disney grabbed the top award, best dramatic motion picture, for Nomadland, while the film's director Chloe Zhao became the second ever woman to take home that prize.
Netflix especially dominated in television, with The Crown and Queen's Gambit grabbing a handful of awards at the ceremony.
In all, the two studios won 15 of the prizes handed out on Sunday (Feb 28) by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) in a NBC broadcast hosted by comediennes Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
The dominance of the top global streaming service and the top traditional studio will not surprise many.
For the past year, many cinemas have been closed, and the biggest new films have been delayed or put online. That also meant studios had to hold back at least some of their multi-million-dollar marketing budgets, making it harder to suss out clear favourites.
Instead, online viewing was on the rise, with even Disney leaning hard into the change, expanding its Disney+ streaming service and debuting top films over the Internet.
Other streaming services, particularly Amazon.com, also picked up key prizes. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm won best picture, musical or comedy, and its star Sacha Baron Cohen won the Golden Globe for his performance.
Other winners included Daniel Kaluuya, who was named best supporting actor in a motion picture for his role in Judas And The Black Messiah, a Warner Bros film about the FBI's infiltration of the Black Panthers.
John Boyega was voted best supporting actor in a TV role for his part in Small Axe, an Amazon show about London's West Indian community, and Schitt's Creek captured the award for best TV comedy.
Because of Covid-19, the 78th Golden Globes were held with presenters and winners appearing remotely, unlike past years, when the awards were handed out in a banquet room at the Beverly Hilton hotel before a TV audience of millions.
They are also usually held in January, when many awards contenders are still playing in theatres.
An opening monologue from Fey and Poehler highlighted the oddity. Rather than hosting the show from a stage at the Hilton, they spoke from separate stages in Los Angeles and New York.
"Normally this room is full of celebrities, but tonight our audience on both coasts is made of smoking hot first responders," Fey said. "We are so grateful for the work that you do, and that you're here, so that the celebrities can stay safely at home."
The picture has been much brighter for TV, which the Globes also celebrate.
Millions of people stuck at home in the Unites States and abroad over the past year swarmed to streaming services like Netflix and Disney+, which now count hundreds of millions of subscribers globally.
In addition to winning best television drama, Netflix's British royal chronicle The Crown, saw the actors who played Princess Diana and Prince Charles, Emma Corrin and Josh O'Connor, both take home acting awards. Gillian Anderson won a supporting Golden Globe for her portrayal of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in the series.
With film nominees like Mank and popular series like The Crown, Netflix led the nominations with 42. Disney was second with 20, including a best-picture nod for the movie Nomadland and its star Frances McDormand.
The year's awards also come against the backdrop of controversy surrounding the HFPA, the group of journalists that chooses the nominees and winners.
A lawsuit filed by a Norwegian journalist who was denied membership accused the organisation of corruption, laid out in a series of exposes by the Los Angeles Times.
The suit was dismissed, but several members told the newspaper awards can effectively be "bought" with expensive press junkets, among other inappropriate behaviour.
The group has also been criticised for failing to have a black member for at least 20 years and for overlooking some of the buzziest black-led pictures this year with their film-drama nominations.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Da 5 Bloods are expected to be nominated for best picture at this year's Academy Awards, according to the website Gold Derby. The Oscar nominations come out on March 15.
The HFPA told the newspaper that none of the allegations had been proven in court, and they reflected "unconscious bias" against its "diverse membership".
Even with pandemic, the Golden Globes remain a big marketing showcase.
Last year's telecast drew a US TV audience of 18.3 million viewers, putting it among the most-watched non-sports shows of the year. The Oscars, the movie industry's most-prestigious awards, drew an audience of 24.3 million.
