Golden Globes rev up award season with Netflix in pole position

Hollywood's biggest stars gather on Jan. 5 for the glitzy Golden Globes, the first major awards show of a packed season that looks set to mark Netflix's coming-of-age in Tinseltown.
The celebrity-filled gala in Beverly Hills is billed as the most raucous event in the showbiz calendar, where success helps create buzz ahead of next month's Oscars.
Netflix garnered an overwhelming 34 Globe nominations across film and television categories, and is the hot favorite to win several major gongs at the champagne-soaked ceremony.
The streaming giant has two frontrunners for the night's top film prize, best drama: Martin Scorsese's gangster epic "The Irishman" and heart-wrenching divorce saga "Marriage Story."
"They are having a really good year," Variety awards editor Tim Gray told AFP, noting Netflix has "five or six" heavyweight films this season, up from just "Roma" last time around. "I think they'll do well."
Netflix only began producing original movies in 2015, but has spent billions to lure the industry's top filmmaking talent and fund lavish awards season campaigns.
The firm's Vatican drama "The Two Popes" has four nods, while Eddie Murphy is the favorite to win best comedy actor for the streaming giant's blaxploitation biopic "Dolomite Is My Name."
Murphy, making a comeback to the awards circuit, is among a plethora of A-listers enthusiastically campaigning throughout the busy season.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association's 90-odd members, who vote for the Globe winners, are a priority stop for every serious contender. Last year, they correctly picked the Oscar winner in every film category except for best musical score.
"They don't generally miss more than one, maybe two" Academy Award winners, said Chris Beachum, of awards...

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