The 82nd Golden Globe Awards were broadcast on January 5 this year and celebrated excellence in film and television for the year of 2024. Unlike the Oscars and Emmys, which are for the film industry and the television productions separately, the Golden Globe Awards have categories within both. It is the third most streamed awards ceremony after the Oscars and Grammys, and it has been held every January since 1944, with the exception of 2008 due to the Writers Guild of America strike.
The nominations this year were announced at a press conference on December 9, 2024, revealing the most nominated productions, including the musical Emilia Perez, the drama The Brutalist, and the thriller Conclave. With its 10 nominations, Emilia Perez broke the record for the most nominations for a comedy or musical in the history of the awards. Following closely in the film categories were The Brutalist with seven nominations and Conclave with six. In addition, The Bear had five nominations from the television awards, while Shogun and Only Murders in the Buildinggot four each.
Comedian Nikki Glaser led the show this year and became the first female solo host in the history of the Golden Globes. It was possible to follow along with the show on CBS or Paramount+. The show brought glam, style, and a new set of emotional acceptance speeches. Both Emilia Perez and Shogun ended up winning 4 awards, while The Brutalist got 3 and Baby Reindeer and Hacks could celebrate with 2. The winner for best actor in a drama was Adrien Brody for The Brutalist, while Sebastian Stan won the musical or comedy category for A Different Man. Both awards for the actresses led to surprising winners: Fernanda Torres, who became the first Brazilian actress to win the awards for the political drama I’m Still Here, and Demi Moore for her performance in the horror comedy The Substance. These two unexpected wins definitely put the first-time award-winning actresses higher on the list of potential Oscar nominations. The winners for the best supporting performances were Zoe Saldana in Emilia Perez and Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain. “I’m very happy that Zoe Saldana won best supporting actress for Emilia Perez. She did a phenomenal job singing, rapping, and dancing in Spanish,” said Ms. Lillian Amrine, who is a career counselor here at Gig Harbor High.
The biggest shocker this year was the Latvian no-dialogue movie Flow that took home the trophy for the best animated movie this year. The story about a black cat and his growing group of companions trying to survive a flood stole the hearts of its viewers with beautiful cinematography and seemingly effortless character building. It beat other big animation movies with budgets ranging from $78-$200 million, including Disney’s Inside Out 2 and Moana 2, as well as the highly acclaimed The Wild Robot by Universal. This achievement was realized by director Gints Zilbalodis along with a small production crew who worked tirelessly to create the whole animation on Blender, a free and open-source animation program, with the comparatively tiny budget of $4 million dollars. “I thought that perhaps Inside Out 2would win best animated film,” said Ms. Amrine, without having seen Flow yet. On the other hand, Brooklynn Behrend (9) didn’t mind Inside Out 2 losing. “I feel no remorse—that movie kinda sucked,” said Behrend.
Other notable winners were Baby Reindeer for best television limited series, Wicked for the cinematic and box-office achievement, and Brady Corbet as the best director for The Brutalist.
All in all, the 2025 Golden Globe Awards were a successful and enjoyable show. “It’s great to see and hear from the recipients as they are honored for their hard work to bring us good stories,” said Ms. Amrine. It was a night to celebrate for the film and television industry, especially the makers of Emilia Perez, The Brutalist, and Shogun, with the most awards, as well as unexpected winners such as Flow and the actresses Fernanda Torres and Demi Moore. The way to the Oscars is now clearer, and we can more easily predict how the nominations will turn out for the next big television awards, as well as look forward to a new year of fresh and qualitative productions within film and television.