The Ten Golden Globes Narratives That Will Define the 2026 Oscars

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Nomination ballots are being filled out today, and with exactly sixty-two days to go until the Academy Awards, last night’s Golden Globes have already laid down the tracks for what we can begin forecasting well in advance. Here are ten storylines.

#1 NEON now knows which horse to back.
The Cannes Film Festival winner Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident and Grand Jury Prize winning Sentimental Values were officially leapfrogged by The Secret Agent last night which means Kleber Mendonça Filho and Wagner Moura are the focal point for more NEON word-of-mouth awareness campaigning in the Best Picture, Best International Feature Film and Best Actor categories. They need to remind voters that this is The Secret Agent is many things, including a political film.

#2. A24 has one horse in the race.
Winning the Golden Globe last night for Marty Supreme, Timothée Chalamet is assured future nominee in Best Actor category status – but with so much runway left in his already impressive career means he is not a lock to repeat here. Vegas odds should be interesting.

#3. Rose Byrne is headed towards a Indie Spirits win, Oscar loss.
The Jessie Buckley win in the mirror category, means A24 will be pushing Byrne for Best Lead Perf at the Spirits.

#4. Eva Victor’s victory lap
Julia Roberts is not the only one that was impressed by Sorry, Baby. She’ll win the Indie Spirits’ top category. The cherry on the sundae moment is the good news coming January 22nd.

#5. Bingo card for Sinners — plenty of nominations but the forecast is dry.
Unless Johnny Greenwood or Max Richter can change the narrative, Ludwig Göransson‘s Best Original Score win will repeat in March.

#6. Chloé Zhao is out.
She already has an Oscar on her mantel. Paul Thomas Anderson has not. This is a career achievement acknowledgement type situation. The room last night wanted to see this. So does Warners Bros.

#7. Focus Features must make the case for Hamnet as… the underdog.
There is roughly eight weeks to build the David vs. Goliath narrative.

#8. Best Adapted Screenplay as the second place award
Focus can bet the house of Jessie Buckley winning for Best Actress, but they could land this award as they’ll be the runner-up in the top two tier categories.

#9. Not a Flow kinda year
David vs. Goliath narrative won’t work this year for Arco. Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters will win the Best Animated category. Ditto for Best Original Song.

#10. Best Casting is going to One Battle After Another.
Stellan Skarsgård can be thankful double representation and vote-splitting reality that having Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro in the Best Supporting Actor category, and so with Teyana Taylor’s win last night we can now lean on a One Battle After Another as a lock for this new award.

Eric Lavallée
Eric Lavalléehttps://www.ericlavallee.com
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist, and critic at IONCINEMA.com, established in 2000. A regular at Sundance, Cannes, and Venice, Eric holds a BFA in film studies from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013, he served on the narrative competition jury at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson’s "This Teacher" (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). He is a Golden Globes Voter, member of the ICS (International Cinephile Society) and AQCC (Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma).

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