Looking Forward to 2026's Award Season from The Golden Globes to the Oscars – Who Should Win and Will Win
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Looking Forward to 2026's Award Season from The Golden Globes to the Oscars – Who Should Win and Will Win
With this weekend's broadcast Sunday, January 11, 2026, on CBS, the 83rd Golden Globes set up the award season finale to come – The Oscars. The 98th Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, televised on ABC. It recognizes films released in 2025, with all the major categories to be awarded that night. A new "Achievement in Casting" category is being introduced for the first time.
But I'm here to take note of the lead up to the Globes with regard to its film categories. I'm not going to get into the validity of these awards given the questionable record of the Foreign Press Association which had created the awards years ago. The first awards presentation for distinguished achievements in the film industry granted by Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Association – the precursor of today's Hollywood Foreign Press Association – took place in early 1944.
In 1951, the association decided to divide the best film, actor and actress nominees into two categories – drama, and musical or comedy – so that no genre would be slighted. In 1952, the HFPA created the Cecil B. DeMille Award to recognize "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field." The award's first recipient was DeMille himself. Helen Mirren is this year's recipient.
In recent years, CBS began broadcasting a revamped show on a Sunday in early January. Though it's a new year, it's the same awards season. Starting with the Critic's Choice Awards last Sunday and the National Society of Film Critics awards being handed out the Saturday before, a clearer picture is emerging of what may be in store on Oscar night – which then concludes the season. This week's nomination announcements are being made from bodies including three of the top guilds: DGA, PGA and SAG. After Golden Globes ceremony airs, it's the eve of Oscar voting, which opens next Monday.
Though the Globes come with such baggage, the show remains an important campaign stop – particularly for the lead actors and actresses. Each will have the opportunity to deliver their memorable speech just before AMPAS (the voting body for the Oscars), members decide who they want to see collect Academy Awards with its own set of subsequent speeches.
While waiting for Sunday night's dramatics, with comedian Nikki Glaser returning to host the night, here's a look at what various voters have had to say so far – and how they've extended director Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another more accolades. Having seen the film, and being a fan of PTA, I don't get it since it's nowhere near his best film, but others are falling all over themselves about this picture. Anderson's latest has gotten four top honors for best picture, best director, best supporting actor and best supporting actress (Benicio del Toro and Teyana Taylor, respectively) in the Critics' race. But the most distinct character in the film is the Colonel played by Sean Penn who certainly deserves to be a contender in any best supporting actor race.
As to the Globes, because the races are split between drama and musical or comedy, wins could bolster a number of performers' status as frontrunners. Michael B. Jordan from Sinners and Timothée Chalamet from Marty Supreme are likely to score in the respective best drama and musical/comedy categories. Jessie Buckley in Hamnet is almost certain to win best drama actress award.
The musical/comedy actress race is more competitive. Three stars – Cynthia Erivo (in Wicked: For Good), Kate Hudson (of Song Sung Blue) and Amanda Seyfried (lead of The Testament of Ann Lee) are all singing for these prizes – in their various films. Among the non-musical roles, Rose Byrne is likely to grab the statue for her work in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You – and deservedly so. Her competition, One Battle After Another newcomer Chase Infiniti and Emma Stone from Bugonia turn in powerful performances – all worthy of good reviews and notices. But I'd have to give to Byrne if only because she's in every scene and has to do serious heavy-lifting throughout.
The previous weekend's events also boosted several contenders for below-the-line categories. Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein picked up prizes for production and costume design, plus hair and makeup. As Frankenstein's creation, Jacob Elordi's work in the movie is worthy of a Best Supporting Actor nod. Netflix's other viable Best Picture contender, Clint Bentley's Train Dreams, won Best Cinematography, while Joseph Kosinski's F1 took Best Editing and Sound – a great film getting lost in the shuffle for Best Picture. James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash" won Best Visual Effects – an obvious choice.
All these deserve to be on the Oscars' Best Picture list with Del Toro, Bentley and Kosinski also suitable for noms as Best Director. I would also add Sinners and Sentimental Value to the Best Picture list with Ryan Coogler and Joachim Trier, respectively, worthy of a Best Director award.
For Kleber Mendonça Filho's The Secret Agent – starring the great Brazilian actor Wagner Moura – the awards and accolades have been rolling in and are well-deserved. The picture won Best Foreign Film at the Critics Choice Awards and has been getting nods for Best Actor and Best Screenplay as well. The NEON-heavy international race is still a toss-up, with most of its contenders – which also include It Was Just an Accident, No Other Choice, Sentimental Value and Sirāt – winning prizes outside of the international film categories.
I'm not going to get into a category unique to the Globes – Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. It's fairly redundant and only there to stroke film companies for their commercial hits.
Though I could go on for about other categories in both the Globes and Oscars, I will just give a few films props here because I thought they were noteworthy and awards worthy. So look out for these documentaries on various shortlists: Apocalypse in the Tropics, Folktales, Cover-Up, Yanuni, Mr. Nobody Against Putin and the massive My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 – Last Air in Moscow.
In the International Feature realm look out for Japan's Kokuho and Taiwan's Left-Handed Girl. Films that also deserve notice though they might be long shots in various categories are: Blue Moon and its star Ethan Hawke, Song Sung Blue with its female lead Hudson and Weapons with one of its stars, Amy Madigan, getting great reviews.
On the Best Animated list, Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters is a massive hit and a strong Golden Globe nominee, making it a major front-runner as a feature film and for its song, "Golden." And though it's unlikely to win, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain is a beautiful film everyone should see.
One final note to this report/preview. Never have I seen a year when so many genre films such as Frankenstein, Weapons or Sinners are in major categories, and well they should be. The art of film-making needs such imaginative and thought-provoking fare to get people before their screens or in the theaters.
I've ignored the TV/Streaming categories because when a series has multiple episodes there are opportunities for expansive story-telling. So viewing the season is a requisite for me and I haven't been able to view them in their entirety.
But it's in making a feature film – even if it's over three-hours long – that creators face a challenge beyond just great concepts. They have to get it done within the limitations of making a feature. And they have to get it right within that framework. I salute anyone who can do that.
Awards Calendar January 2026
Jan. 7: Art Directors Guild and Screen Actors Guild nominations
Jan. 8: American Society of Cinematographers and Directors Guild nominations
Jan. 9: Producers Guild of America nominations
Jan. 11: Golden Globe Awards
Jan. 12: Academy Award nominations voting begins
Jan. 22: Academy Award nominations
Brad Balfour
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