The Golden Globes® awards ceremony will take place on January 5, 2025. This year’s event will be the 82nd in the history of the Golden Globes®, but only the second since they were reorganized under the ownership of Dick Clark Productions and Eldridge.

Over 300 journalists from 85 countries voted on this year’s Golden Globe® awards. Nominations were announced by Mindy Kaling and Morris Chestnut on December 9, 2024. Awards will be given in 27 categories, almost evenly divided between film and television.

Nominees and their guests will gather at the Beverly Hilton for “Hollywood’s Party of the Year®.” The rest of us can enjoy the festivities live from 8-11 pm EST / 5-8 pm PST on CBS. Alternatively, viewers within the U.S. can stream the show live on Paramount+ with Showtime or access it on-demand the following day on Paramount+ Essential.

Here’s everything you need to know to enjoy the 82nd Golden Globes®. We’re excited, because the nominations feature a wonderful array of indie filmmakers!

The Host

In the past, the Golden Globes® have had multiple hosts, no host, and even a five-time host. If you have followed the awards show in recent years, you may fondly recall the duo of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (2013-2015 and 2021) or the performances of Ricky Gervais (2010-2012, 2016, and 2020). This year, the Globes® will be hosted by a rising star, the comedian Nikki Glaser.

Glaser had already released several stand-up comedy specials – Perfect (2016), Bangin’ (2019), and Good Clean Filth (2022) – when she leapt into the spotlight in 2024. After a virtuosic performance on The Roast of Tom Brady, Glaser became known – in her own words – as a “brutal roast queen.” Her latest stand-up special, Someday You’ll Die, has earned nominations for two Emmys®, a Grammy®, and the 2025 Golden Globe® for Stand-Up Comedy.

In case anyone might be worried, Glaser has promised not to roast her fellow nominees. Instead, she will follow the examples of Fey, Poehler, and Gervais. As Glaser explained, “I just hope to continue in that time honored tradition (that might also get me cancelled). This is truly a dream job.”

We can’t wait to hear Glaser’s jokes! – and to watch the reactions from the audience of celebrities.

Special Guests and Honorees

Winners of two lifetime achievement awards, one for television and one for film, were announced in advance.

The recipient of the 2025 Carol Burnett Award is television star Ted Danson. He is most famous for playing Sam Malone on Cheers (1982-1993). For that role, Danson earned 11 Emmy® nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – one for every single season! He won in 1990 and 1993. Later, Danson earned three more nominations for the same award on The Good Place (2016-2020), where he portrayed a diabolical yet conflicted manager of the afterlife. This year, Danson is a candidate for the Golden Globe® for Best Actor in a Television Musical/Comedy because of his work on A Man on the Inside, where he plays an amateur spy infiltrating a nursing home in search of missing jewelry.

The recipient of the 2025 Cecil B. DeMille Award is actress and producer Viola Davis. Over her exceptional career, she has earned numerous awards, and she recently achieved EGOT status. On Broadway, Davis won two Tony Awards®: Best Featured Actress in a Play for King Hedley II in 2001 and Best Actress in a Play for Fences in 2010. Then, Davis earned an Emmy® for How to Get Away with Murder in 2015. When Davis reprised the role of Rose Maxson for the film version of Fences, she took home the 2017 Oscar® for Best Supporting Actress. Finally, Davis won a Grammy® in 2023 for narrating her audiobook Finding Me: A Memoir.

For the first time, winners of the lifetime achievement awards will be honored at a special gala, as well as at the main Golden Globes® ceremony.

Award Nominees

As you will see when you review the nominations, it is a terrific year for independent films! We’ll devote most of our space to motion pictures, but we’ll close with remarks on some beloved television series.

Although Robert Altman’s Nashville (1975) still holds the record for most Golden Globe® nominations (11), a new film has risen to second place. With 10 nods, Emilia Pérez surpasses Bob Fosse’s Cabaret (1972) and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (2023), which earned nine nominations apiece. Since Nashville was classified as a drama, Emilia Pérez has become the most nominated musical/comedy.

From Why Not Productions and acquired by Netflix, Emilia Pérez is a musical about a Mexican drug lord who is ready to retire and complete a gender transition. Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) hires a beautiful and intriguing lawyer, Rita (Zoe Saldaña), to help with an audacious plan. Emilia wants to build a new life, so she will need to fake her death.

This provocative film is nominated for Best Musical/Comedy, Best Non-English Language Film, Best Director (Jacques Audiard), Best Screenplay (Jacques Audiard), Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy (Karla Sofía Gascón), and Best Original Score (Clément Ducol & Camille). Additionally, it earned not one but two nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña) and Best Original Song (“El Mal” and “Mi Camino”). If you have time to watch only one new film before the Golden Globes®, make it Emilia Pérez!

The next most nominated title is The Brutalist, which earned seven nominations. This work of historical fiction produced by Brookstreet Pictures and distributed by A24 follows a mid-20th-century Jewish refugee named László Tóth (Adrien Brody), who is loosely based on Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer (1902-1982). After struggling to survive as a coal miner in Philadelphia, Tóth slowly rebuilds his architectural career thanks to a wealthy benefactor, Harry Lee Van Buren (Joe Alwyn). Unfortunately, the relationship between artist and patron is fraught with exploitation.

The Brutalist is nominated for Best Drama, Best Director (Brady Corbet), Best Screenplay (Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold), Best Actor in a Drama (Adrien Brody), Best Supporting Actress (Felicity Jones), Best Supporting Actor (Guy Pearce), and Best Original Score (Daniel Blumberg).

In third place, Conclave earned six nominations. The thriller, adapted from a 2016 novel by Robert Harris, is produced by Indian Paintbrush and distributed by Focus Features. As always when a pope dies, the College of Cardinals gathers to elect a successor. Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) carefully oversees the proceedings, but the future of the Church is threatened by politicking among the candidates, disturbing testimony from Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini), and several mysterious catastrophes.

Conclave is nominated for Best Drama, Best Director (Edward Berger), Best Screenplay (Peter Straughan), Best Actor in a Drama (Ralph Fiennes), Best Supporting Actress (Isabella Rossellini), and Best Original Score (Volker Bertelmann).

Tied for fourth place, two motion pictures earned five nominations: Anora (produced by Cre Film and distributed by Neon) and The Substance (produced by Working Title Films and distributed by MUBI). Both were favorites at Cannes.

Anora is a Cinderella story, where Cinderella is a New York City stripper and sex worker (Mikey Madison) and her Prince Charming is a Russian playboy (Mark Eydelshteyn). His wealthy parents step into the role of wicked stepmother, a bit belatedly, when they find out about their son’s impulsive Las Vegas wedding.

Anora is nominated for Best Musical/Comedy, Best Director (Sean Baker), Best Screenplay (Sean Baker), Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy (Mikey Madison), and Best Supporting Actor (Yura Borisov). It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.

The Substance, which we included in our Halloween roundup, is a body horror film about the external and internal pressures on women to appear young and beautiful. After job opportunities dry up, aging actress Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) abuses an illicit drug so that she can transform into her ideal self, Sue (Margaret Qualley). The consequences are horrifying beyond words – they must be seen for themselves.

The Substance is nominated for Best Musical/Comedy, Best Director (Coralie Fargeat), Best Screenplay (Coralie Fargeat), Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy (Demi Moore), and Best Supporting Actress (Margaret Qualley). It won Best Screenplay at Cannes.

Finally, the top nominees for television awards were The Bear (five nominations), Only Murders in the Building (four nominations), and Shogun (four nominations). They are all nominees for Best Television Series in their genres (The Bear and Only Murders count as comedies; Shogun is a drama). Their other nominations were for their terrific casts.

Of course, we love The Bear, which is mainly set in the hectic kitchen of a Chicago restaurant. But we are such fans of Only Murders that we brought creatives from the show to discuss their work in Washington, D.C. As for Shogun, it numbered among the works of art we were grateful for at Thanksgiving.

Enjoy the Show!

Many other indie films made the list of Golden Globe® nominees. There are also some great new releases from major studios, including The Wild Robot, a contender for Best Animated Film. We can’t possibly cover every deserving title, so check out the full nominations list!

We can’t wait for the 82nd edition of the Golden Globes®! – and we hope you are excited, too. Please join us in thanking the organizers – and wishing good luck to all the filmmakers who are being honored at this year’s ceremony!