A highly coveted honor. On the night of January 7 to 8, among the endless list of Golden Globes awarded in Los Angeles (these statuettes designated by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to distinguish films and series of the year), two new categories will be released. The first to award the best television stand-up; the second going to the “best work of cinematic ambition having had success at the box office”.
To compete in this last category, the nominated films must have generated at least 150 million dollars (136 million euros) in theatrical revenue, including 100 million dollars in the United States alone, or have been massively viewed on television. -streaming forms. Voters are then called upon to choose the winner based solely on the criterion of “excellence”.
Besides the sweet barbie and the acid Oppenheimer, the two hits of the summer, competing sagas (the last Impossible mission, Guardians of the Galaxy And John Wick), animated films Super Mario Bros. And Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, as well as Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, documentary about the touring pop star. Between them, these productions have accumulated more than 4 billion dollars (3.6 billion euros) in revenue around the world. In France alone, they enabled the sale of twenty-six million tickets.
Under fire from critics
So, do they really need additional recognition? Yes, justified, December 14, 2023 in the American magazine Vanity Fair, the president of the Golden Globes, Helen Hoehne, for whom this new statuette guarantees“give popular films a place in this awards season, because those are the films people are actually going to see,” those who “keep the rooms alive”.
In truth, such “innovation” remains primarily motivated by the fragility of an organization under fire for the lack of diversity within it. NBC, which agreed to broadcast the awards show in January 2023 after boycotting it the previous year, attracted barely 6.3 million viewers. The worst audience in the twenty-seven years of broadcasting this ceremony on the channel.
“Audience ratings are falling as the gap between films seen in theaters and those named increases. underlines Gabriel Rossman, professor of sociology at the University of California. Additionally, at both the Golden Globes and the Oscars, the strategic spectacle of red carpet glamor fades in favor of other events, like the Met Gala,” at the beginning of May, which is making more news with its breathtaking fashion silhouettes. Brief, “reconnecting with the general public is becoming urgent”, observes this creative industries specialist.
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