By Lisa Richwine and Jane Ross
BEVERLY HILLS, California (Reuters) -Hollywood will kick off its 2025 awards festivities on Sunday at the annual Golden Globes where films such as "Wicked," "The Brutalist" and "Emilia Perez" compete for trophies and attention ahead of the Oscars.
Timothee Chalamet, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande and Angelina Jolie are among the stars in the running for acting honors at the red-carpet ceremony that will be hosted for the first time by comedian Nikki Glaser. The show will be broadcast live on CBS and stream on Paramount+.
Past Globes shows have been more relaxed than the Oscars, the ceremony that bestows the film industry's highest honors in March. Nominees from both movies and television sipped cocktails and champagne during the Globes while hosts such as Ricky Gervais delivered searing jokes about the A-list crowd and Globes voters.
Glaser, a stand-up comic known for skewering football legend Tom Brady during a roast on Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), said she set some boundaries for herself this year.
"There's definitely jokes that I wanted to make that I had to cut that just are too critical or too cynical," Glaser said in an interview with Reuters.
"This is not a roast," she added. "This is a night to celebrate stuff, so I want to set a good tone and I want people who were nominated to feel proud of themselves. I don't want them to feel under attack."
The presenter lineup features big-name celebrities including Dwayne Johnson, Elton John, Andrew Garfield and Awkwafina.
For the awards, Spanish-language musical "Emilia Perez" and post-World War Two epic "The Brutalist" lead the night's movie nominees.
"The Brutalist" stars Adrien Brody as a Holocaust survivor who flees to the United States to chase the American dream. The 3-1/2 hour tale is considered a frontrunner for the night's top prize, best film drama.
Competitors include "Conclave," about the selection of a pope, and two movies starring Chalamet - Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown" and sci-fi epic "Dune - Part II."
Unlike the Oscars, musical and comedy films compete in a separate category at the Globes. Nominees in that field include box office smash "Wicked" and dark romantic comedy "Anora."
Winning a Globe can help films in the run-up to the Academy Awards in March. If a movie or actor takes home a Globe, "it increases the likelihood a member of the film academy will check out that project," said Scott Feinberg, executive editor for awards at The Hollywood Reporter.
Feinberg predicted "The Brutalist" or "Conclave" would earn the drama prize at the Globes. The musical or comedy category is harder to gauge, he said, because the nominees are so different from one another.
"Emilia Perez," a musical thriller, tells the story of a Mexican drug lord who transitions from a man to a woman. "Wicked," a prequel to "The Wizard of Oz," was adapted from a popular Broadway stage show.
"Anora," about a sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, is more of a traditional comedy while "The Substance" starring Demi Moore as a fading celebrity seeking a fountain of youth, is essentially a horror movie, Feinberg said.
"That (category) is just all over the place," Feinberg said.
Winners of the Globes are chosen by 334 entertainment journalists from 85 countries, compared with roughly 9,000 voters who select the Academy Awards. The Globes voting body was expanded in recent years and organizers instituted reforms after being criticized for ethical lapses and a lack of diversity.
In TV categories, restaurant tale "The Bear" leads the Globes nominees, followed by mystery comedy "Only Murders in the Building" and historical epic "Shogun."