Netflix dominated the Golden Globe nominations with strong showings from movies including "The Irishman" and "Marriage Story," as well as series including "The Crown" and "Unbelievable."
The largest subscription streaming service collected 34 nominations for its shows and films from the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., which announced the nods early Monday morning.
The streamer's bounty in the film categories, at 17, far surpassed rivals, a total more than double that of its closest rival, Sony Pictures, which scored eight nods for flicks including Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" and "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood."
In TV, the nominations were much less lopsided, with Netflix earnings 17 nominations, versus 15 for HBO, which had a powerful showing from shows including "Chernobyl," "Barry" and "Big Little Lies." Netflix scored four nominations each for its critically acclaimed British drama "The Crown" and the miniseries "Unbelievable," about a Washington teenager who was raped in her apartment and the investigations that followed.
Netflix's big morning is a boost for the streamer, which sees awards season as about much more than bragging rights. The Los Gatos-based company is counting on marquee original content to fend off competition from rivals including Disney+, Apple TV+ and the upcoming HBO Max, which are spending billions of dollars to unseat Netflix as the dominant player in subscription video.
For Netflix and streaming competitors, awards campaigns are a key way of driving viewers and attracting top-tier talent. To meet the challenge in the industry-wide arms race for viewers, Netflix is spending an estimated $15 billion on content this year.
The nominations also come at a critical time for HBO, which is facing a major test under the ownership of AT&T Inc. The Dallas phone company is counting on the pay-TV network to drive its own streaming strategy with HBO Max, which launches next year. At the same time, the company has faced questions over whether it can sustain the quality of its programming under the new regime.
Netflix is expected to wage an expensive Oscar campaign for awards hopefuls after its best picture nominee, "Roma," lost to Universal Pictures' "Green Book" earlier this year. "Roma" was not eligible in the main best picture categories during the 2019 Golden Globes, due to HFPA rules.
This year, three of the Golden Globes' best picture drama nominees were produced by Netflix. Its contenders include Noah Baumbach's emotionally complex "Marriage Story," featuring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as a couple going through a wrenching divorce. The film earned six nominations.
"The Irishman," Martin Scorsese's epic 3 {-hour mob movie starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino, was recognized in five categories, including supporting actor for Pesci and Pacino. "The Two Popes," with Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce, is up for honors in four.
The two other best picture drama nominees are Universal Pictures' World War I drama "1917" and Warner Bros.'s grim supervillain origin story, "Joker."
The Eddie Murphy film "Dolemite Is My Name," about blaxploitation cinema legend Rudy Ray Moore, was nominated for best picture in comedy, and best actor for Murphy. It's competing with "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," Fox Searchlight's "Jojo Rabbit," Lionsgate's "Knives Out" and Paramount Pictures' "Rocketman."
The major studios and their specialty film divisions were largely overshadowed by the streamer's onslaught of contenders. Warner Bros. came in with six nominations, led by four for "Joker," including best drama, actor (Joaquin Phoenix) and director (Todd Phillips). Walt Disney Co. also had six nominations, mostly in animation and music categories.
Coming away with a relatively small bundle of nods were such awards season stalwarts as A24, Focus Features, Fox Searchlight and Sony Pictures Classics, which delivered two apiece.
Here's how the studios and networks stack up.
Film distributors
Netflix 17
Sony Pictures Releasing 8
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures 6
Warner Bros. Pictures 6
Lionsgate 5
Universal Pictures 5
NEON 4
Amazon Studios 3
Paramount Pictures 3
United Artists Releasing 3
A24 2
Focus Features 2
Fox Searchlight Pictures 2
Sony Pictures Classics 2
LD Entertainment / Roadside Attractions 1
STXfilms 1
TV networks
Netflix 17
HBO 15
Hulu 5
Amazon Prime Video 5
FX Networks 4
Apple TV+ 3
Showtime 3
BBC America 2
USA Network 1
