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| Photo Credit: AP. |
NEW YORK (AP) — After a year spent off-air, the Golden Globe Awards are returning to NBC in January, as the embattled Hollywood Foreign Press Association seeks a primetime comeback after more than a year of turmoil.
NBC, the
Hollywood Press Association and dick clark productions on Tuesday made the
Globes’ return official. The 80th Golden Globes will be held January 10, airing
both on NBC and Peacock.
For the past
year and half, Hollywood has effectively boycotted the Globes, for years one of
the most-watched award shows after the Academy Awards. But after the Los
Angeles Times reported ahead of the 2021 broadcast that the HFPA’s 87 members
of non-American journalists included no Black members, studios, publicists and
stars said they would cease participating in the Globes. Tom Cruise returned
his three Golden Globe awards.
Since then,
the HFPA has reorganized itself, revamped its membership and enacted reforms
designed to curtail the kinds of unethical behavior the group has long been
criticized for. The HFPA added new members, including six Black voting members,
and recently added 103 international, nonmember voters. The HFPA on Tuesday
said their voting body is now 52% female, 19.5% Latino, 12% Asian, 10% Black
and 10% Middle Eastern.
“We recognize the HFPA’s commitment to ongoing
change and look forward to welcoming back the Golden Globes to NBC for its
landmark 80th Anniversary in January 2023,” said Frances Berwick, chairman of
entertainment networks for NBCUniversal.
NBC had
reason to want to get the Globes back on the air. In 2018, the network signed
an eight-year deal to continue airing the awards through 2026. Citing the
HFPA’s ongoing reforms, NBC elected not to televise the previous Golden Globes
in January. The organization went ahead announcing awards, anyway, in an
untelevised and little-noticed gathering unattended by nominees.
This year’s
ceremony, the organizations said, will be broadcast in a one-year agreement.
Terms were unavailable but the deal is expected to be less than the approximately
$60 million the network previously paid annually to air the Globes. With
backlash swirling and the ceremony scaled down because of the pandemic, the
2021 Globes were watched by 6.9 million people, according to Nielsen, down from
more than 18 million the year before.
Whether
NBC’s endorsement will be enough to return the Globes to Hollywood’s good
graces, however, remains to be seen. Would Cruise and “Top Gun: Maverick” want
anything to do with the Globes? Or how about Brendan Fraser, a major best actor
contender this year for his performance in “The Whale,” who said the HFPA
dismissed his allegation of groping by then HFPA president Philip Berk at a
luncheon in 2003 as a “joke.”
But the
Globes have long played a vital role in Hollywood’s awards season as a bridge
between the rush of December releases and the Oscars, this year to be held
March 13 — long after the contenders have debuted. For studios, the Globes are
an important marketing opportunity that may not directly influence the Academy
Awards but can impact box office. Nominations to the Globes will be announced
Dec. 12.
The HFPA is
currently being run by interim Chief Executive Todd Boehly, whose investment
firm, Eldridge Industries, bought the Globes and turned it from a nonprofit
into a for-profit venture. Boehly’s firm is also the parent company of dick
clark productions, the awards’ producer, and an owner of the Globes’ longtime
home, the Beverly Hilton.
Follow AP
Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP