Nine nominations. One director. And a 72 billion dollar bombshell that’s rewriting everything we thought we knew about Hollywood power.
The 83rd Golden Globe nominations dropped on Monday, December 8, 2025, from Beverly Hills with the kind of announcement that usually brings predictable Oscar bait favorites and safe studio picks. Except this year, nothing about awards season is predictable. Because while Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another was dominating the nomination list with a staggering nine nods, the entertainment industry was still reeling from news that broke just three days earlier.
Netflix bought Warner Bros Discovery for 72 billion dollars.
Let that sink in. The streaming giant that Hollywood studios spent years dismissing as a passing fad just acquired one of the most storied movie studios in cinema history. The company that revolutionized how people watch content by keeping them home now owns the legacy of Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz, and The Dark Knight trilogy.
And just to add another layer of chaos to this already wild situation? Both Netflix and Warner Bros are major players in this year’s awards race. Warner Bros released One Battle After Another, the film leading the Globe nominations. Netflix has a slate of contenders including the most watched movie of the year.
So when the Golden Globes revealed their nominees on Monday morning, they weren’t just announcing who might win trophies on January 11, 2026. They were capturing a snapshot of an industry in the middle of a seismic transformation that nobody fully understands yet.
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The Film That’s Dominating Everything
Let’s start with the movie everyone will be talking about until the Oscars. Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another isn’t just leading the Golden Globe nominations. It’s crushing them.
Nine nominations total. Best Picture in the Musical or Comedy category. Best Director for Anderson. Best Screenplay. And a jaw dropping five acting nominations spread across its ensemble cast. Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn, Chase Infiniti, and Benicio Del Toro all got recognized for their performances.
That’s not just impressive. That’s historically rare. Getting five actors nominated from a single film signals that the movie isn’t just well crafted. It’s a showcase for performances that voters couldn’t ignore even if they wanted to.
The film itself is vintage PTA. Known for masterworks like There Will Be Blood, The Master, and Licorice Pizza, Anderson has built a career on creating sprawling character studies that feel intimate despite their epic scope. One Battle After Another apparently continues that tradition, though Warner Bros has kept plot details relatively close to the vest during its theatrical rollout.
What we do know is that Leonardo DiCaprio leads the ensemble in what critics are calling a career best performance. That’s saying something for an actor who’s already won an Oscar and delivered iconic work in films from Titanic to The Wolf of Wall Street to The Revenant. For DiCaprio at this stage of his career to be getting career best reviews suggests Anderson pulled something special out of him.
Teyana Taylor, better known as a musician and choreographer, is earning raves for her dramatic work. Sean Penn, a two time Oscar winner himself, apparently delivers the kind of lived in performance that only actors with his experience can pull off. And Chase Infiniti, a relative newcomer, is suddenly being mentioned in the same breath as established legends.
The film competed in the Musical or Comedy category at the Globes, which sometimes feels like a technicality more than an accurate genre classification. Anderson’s films often have dark humor threaded through heavy drama. Placing it in this category rather than Drama gives it a better chance at winning since the Drama field tends to be more crowded with prestige contenders.
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The Norwegian Surprise
Right behind One Battle After Another with eight nominations is a film most American audiences haven’t heard of yet. Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, a Norwegian family drama distributed by indie powerhouse Neon.
Eight nominations including four for its actors. Stellan Skarsgård, Renate Reinsve, Elle Fanning, and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas all earned recognition. That’s remarkable for a foreign language film competing against Hollywood’s biggest releases.
Trier is no stranger to critical acclaim. His previous films including Oslo, August 31st and The Worst Person in the World earned festival accolades and arthouse success. But Sentimental Value seems to have broken through in a way his earlier work didn’t with awards voters.
The film follows a filmmaking family navigating complicated dynamics, which probably resonates with Hollywood voters who see their own industry reflected back at them. It’s also reportedly gorgeous, melancholy, and emotionally devastating in the way Scandinavian cinema excels at being.
Neon, the distributor, is having an absolutely banner year. The indie studio scored 21 total nominations across its slate, including five of the six International Feature nominees. That’s unprecedented dominance for a specialty distributor competing against major studios with far bigger marketing budgets.
Films like It Was Just an Accident, the Iranian revenge drama from Jafar Panahi that earned four nominations, showcase Neon’s commitment to bringing international cinema to American audiences. Panahi himself is a fascinating and tragic story. The acclaimed director has been repeatedly imprisoned and banned from filmmaking by Iran’s Islamic Republic regime. Earlier in December, while traveling with the film outside Iran, he was sentenced to another year in prison and a two year travel ban.
His nomination feels both celebratory and heartbreaking. Cinema celebrating an artist while his own government punishes him for creating it.
The Warner Bros Wildcard
Here’s where the Netflix Warner Bros merger gets really interesting for this awards season. Warner Bros scored 31 total nominations across film and television on Monday. That includes 15 from HBO Max for series like The White Lotus, which led all TV nominees with six nominations.
But the studio’s crown jewel on the film side is Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, a vampire thriller that earned seven Golden Globe nominations including Best Director for Coogler and Best Actor for Michael B Jordan.
Sinners is being described as Coogler’s most ambitious and genre bending work yet. The Black Panther director taking on vampire mythology with his signature visual style and emotional depth has created massive buzz. Early screenings generated incredible word of mouth. And the film’s box office performance has been strong enough that it earned a nomination for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, a category the Globes added to recognize commercially successful films.
Now here’s the complication. Warner Bros as we know it might not exist by the time these awards are handed out on January 11, 2026. Netflix’s acquisition deal needs regulatory approval, which could take months. But the uncertainty hanging over the studio adds strange subtext to every Warner Bros nomination.
Are voters celebrating a studio’s legacy? Are they mourning what might be lost when Netflix takes control? Are they making a statement about theatrical releases versus streaming?
The National Association of Theatre Owners, the leading trade group for movie theater owners, called the Netflix Warner Bros deal an unprecedented threat to theatrical exhibition. They’re terrified that Netflix will shift Warner Bros’ focus from theatrical releases to streaming content. And given Netflix’s history of bypassing theaters almost entirely, those fears aren’t unfounded.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump weighed in, saying the market share created by the merger could be a problem. And on Monday, Paramount announced it was mounting a hostile bid for Warner Bros, trying to block the Netflix deal with a competing offer.
All of this chaos is happening while Warner Bros movies are dominating awards conversations. It’s the most Hollywood story imaginable. Business drama and creative recognition colliding in real time.
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Netflix’s Streaming Flex
Meanwhile, Netflix is flexing its own awards season muscle with 35 total nominations, the most of any studio. That number includes both its extensive film slate and television nominees like the British limited series Adolescence, which earned five nominations.
On the film side, Netflix’s contenders span genres and styles. Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly earned nominations for both George Clooney and Adam Sandler, an odd couple pairing that apparently works brilliantly. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, the legendary director’s take on Mary Shelley’s classic novel, scored five nominations including nods for its visual effects and production design.
But perhaps the most fascinating Netflix nominee is KPop Demon Hunters. This animated film became arguably the most watched movie of 2025 despite being a streaming release. It earned three nominations including one for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, which is genuinely weird for a Netflix movie.
Netflix famously gives its films only small, limited theatrical runs before dumping them on streaming. The company’s business model depends on keeping content exclusive to its platform. Yet KPop Demon Hunters became such a phenomenon that theaters started hosting singalong screenings. It actually had a number one box office weekend, which is nearly unheard of for a Netflix release.
The Globes nominating it for box office achievement feels like the awards embracing a new reality. Maybe theatrical and streaming don’t have to be enemies. Maybe a movie can succeed in both spaces. Or maybe the categories are becoming meaningless as distribution models evolve faster than awards shows can keep up with.
The TV Side Of Things
While film nominations grab headlines, the television categories show how fragmented the industry has become. The White Lotus, Mike White’s brilliant social satire anthology series on HBO Max, led all TV nominees with six nominations. That’s impressive but not surprising given the show’s critical acclaim and cultural impact.
Adolescence, a British limited series about teen life starring Stephen Graham, earned five nominations and has critics calling it one of the year’s best shows. Only Murders in the Building and Severance each grabbed four nominations, representing completely different ends of the TV spectrum. One is a light mystery comedy on Hulu. The other is a mind bending sci fi thriller on Apple TV Plus.
The spread of nominations across streaming platforms shows there’s no single dominant force in television anymore. Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Apple TV Plus, Prime Video, Paramount Plus, and broadcast networks are all competing for attention and prestige. Unlike film, where Netflix and Warner Bros are leading the pack, television is a free for all where quality content can come from anywhere.
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The Hosting Situation
Nikki Glaser is returning to host the 83rd Golden Globes on January 11, 2026, airing on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus. This marks her second consecutive year hosting after she made history in January 2025 as the first woman to host the ceremony solo.
Her first hosting gig earned universal praise. Critics called her performance victorious and razor sharp. She brought fearless wit and bold presence that made the ceremony feel vibrant and fun rather than stuffy and predictable. The New York Times even named her Comedian of the Year in 2024.
Ratings for her first hosting stint were essentially flat compared to the previous year. The ceremony drew 9.3 million viewers according to Nielsen, down slightly from 9.4 million in 2024. But in an era of declining awards show viewership across the board, maintaining audience levels counts as a win.
Glaser’s return suggests the Golden Globes are committing to a hosting style that’s irreverent, funny, and unafraid to make fun of Hollywood’s absurdities. Previous hosts have ranged from safe (Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh) to chaotic (Ricky Gervais). Glaser finds a sweet spot between roasting the industry and celebrating it.
The ceremony itself has undergone massive changes in recent years. After a series of controversies involving the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which previously put on the ceremony, the Globes were sold in 2023 to Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Industries and Dick Clark Productions, part of Penske Media. A new voting body of more than 300 people now decides winners instead of the old HFPA’s smaller membership.
The awards moved from NBC to CBS on a shorter, less expensive deal, reflecting the reality that awards shows aren’t the ratings juggernauts they once were. But the Globes remain relevant as the first major ceremony of awards season, setting narratives that often carry through to the Oscars in March.
The Honorary Awards
Helen Mirren will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award in a separate prime time special airing January 8, 2026. The honor recognizes her extraordinary career spanning decades and multiple mediums. From her Oscar winning performance as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen to her work in television and theater, Mirren represents the kind of versatile, enduring talent that the industry loves to celebrate.
Sarah Jessica Parker will be honored with the Carol Burnett Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to television. Parker’s legacy includes not just Sex and the City but also And Just Like That and numerous producing credits. She’s become synonymous with a particular vision of urban femininity and has influenced television storytelling in ways that extend far beyond her most famous role.
Both awards will be presented during the main ceremony on January 11, giving the Globes moments of gravitas between categories and comedy bits.
The Snubs And Surprises
Every awards show creates conversation around who got left out. While the full list of snubs would require deeper analysis, early reactions suggest that Wicked: For Good underperformed expectations with only five nominations despite massive box office success. The musical sequel was expected to dominate but got overshadowed by One Battle After Another and Sentimental Value.
Certain Best Picture contenders failed to land directing nominations, which often signals that their chances at winning major awards are slim. Directors are typically passionate about recognizing their own, so when a film gets a Picture nod without a corresponding Directing nomination, it suggests the film isn’t connecting with voters across the board.
The International Feature category being dominated by Neon releases sparked some discussion about whether the Globes are simply following the festival circuit rather than making independent choices. But it also reflects that Neon is genuinely releasing the year’s best international cinema and marketing it effectively to voters.
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The Podcast Category Debut
For the first time ever, the Golden Globes are giving out a Best Podcast award. The inaugural nominees include Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard, Call Her Daddy, Good Hang With Amy Poehler, The Mel Robbins Podcast, SmartLess, and NPR’s Up First.
This category addition reflects podcasting’s evolution from niche medium to mainstream entertainment force. These shows have massive audiences, influence culture, and feature A list talent. Recognizing them at the Golden Globes legitimizes podcasting as part of the entertainment industry rather than just a side hustle for celebrities.
It’s also a smart move by the Globes to stay relevant. Awards shows need to evolve with how people consume content. Adding a podcast category shows willingness to expand beyond traditional film and television into where audiences are actually spending time and attention.
The Final Word
The 83rd Golden Globe nominations arrived during Hollywood’s most turbulent moment in decades. Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another leads with nine nominations and looks like the frontrunner heading into awards season. But the real story is happening behind the scenes, where Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros is reshaping power dynamics, distribution models, and the future of theatrical cinema.
On January 11, 2026, winners will be announced, speeches will be made, and Nikki Glaser will hopefully roast everyone beautifully. But the questions raised by this awards season will outlast that ceremony. What happens to Warner Bros under Netflix ownership? Will theatrical releases survive the streaming onslaught? Can traditional studios compete with tech giant budgets?
For now, we’ve got nine weeks to obsess over predictions, rewatch nominated films, and pretend we understand where Hollywood is heading next. Because if 2025 taught us anything, it’s that nobody actually knows what’s coming.
Comment below with your Golden Globes predictions and whether you think the Netflix Warner Bros merger will kill or save cinema. Share this with everyone who needs to catch up on awards season drama before it’s too late. And start your watch list now because you’ve got dozens of nominated films and shows to get through before January 11.
