Pink-themed movie phenomenon “Barbie” topped the list of nominees for Hollywood’s Golden Globe awards on Monday with nine nods, outpacing the eight for historical drama “Oppenheimer.”
The two films – which featured in a summer box office clash dubbed “Barbenheimer” – will compete in different categories at the Globes, a red-carpet ceremony that kicks off Hollywood’s awards season in January.
“Barbie,” director Greta Gerwig’s take on the iconic doll, will vie for best comedy or musical film alongside “American Fiction,” “The Holdovers,” and others.
“Oppenheimer” is in the running for best movie drama. It stars Cillian Murphy as the man behind the building of the atomic bomb. Competitors include Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the story of the murder of Native Americans in Oklahoma in the 1920s.
In television categories, family drama “Succession” led all series with nine nominations, followed by “The Bear” with five.
After criticism for a lack of diversity in past years, an expanded group of Globe voters nominated two female directors – Gerwig and “Past Lives” director Celine Song. Acting nominees included Native American star Lily Gladstone in “Flower Moon,” gay Black American “Rustin” actor Colman Domingo and Black American lead Jeffrey Wright in “American Fiction.”
Bradley Cooper was nominated for best actor and director for “Maestro,” the story of composer Leonard Berstein that also earned a best drama nomination.
Other acting nominees included Murphy, “Barbie” star Margot Robbie, and Leonardo DiCaprio for “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
DiCaprio praised his co-star Gladstone, saying she was “the soul of our film and helped to bring this sinister and painful part of our nation’s history to life.”
The Globes are one of the key contests that can provide a boost to movies on the road to the Academy Awards in March.
