The race to the Oscars

Are Golden Globe Awards  a precursor to the Oscars? Do they act like a crystal ball in predicting who will the winner be at the most prestigious international film awards event?

Techically, not, because the poll for nominations close much before the Globes, but yes, film experts say that the Globes are actually a standard in deciding the strongest candidate, who will win the black statuette  at the Academy Awards.

Statistics say that in the last 20 years, the Golden Globe and Oscar winners have been in sync 11 times. However, there was a terrible mismatch in 2004, when The Aviator scored at the Golden Globes, but Million Dollar Baby notched the top honours as the Best Picture (Drama) at the Oscars. The Globes and the Oscars have an amazing ‘match’ when it comes to individual prizes in acting. They have always matched up over the last five years (again with the exception of 2008, when Mickey Rourke got the prize for The Wrestler but the Oscars went to Sean Penn for his memorable performance in Milk). The record is even more envious when it comes to the lead actress category, it has matched up 17 times so far. Also, six best directors have carried the Golden Globes as well as the Oscars home.

However, technically the results at the 69th Golden Globes won’t be able to influence the Oscars in any way as the Oscar nomination polls closed last Friday. The nominations would be announced on January 24. So, there’s a zero per cent chance that the Globes results would affect the shortlisting of the nominations from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. However, it should be a great year for George Clooney and Meryl Streep while The Help and The Descendants should be the  film to watch out for according to most critics.