The two blockbusters were collectively called “Barbenheimer” because their theatrical releases happened to fall on the same date.

Barbie tops the list of nominees for Hollywood’s Golden Globe Awards with nine nominations, overtaking the eight nominees for the historical drama “Oppenheimer.”

The Greta Gerwig-directed pink doll adventure will compete for best comedy or musical film alongside American Fiction, The Holdovers and others at a red carpet ceremony in January that kicks off Hollywood awards season.

Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy as the man behind the creation of the atomic bomb, will compete for best drama film against Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro and others.

Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” tells the story of the murder of Native Americans in Oklahoma in the 1920s. Bradley Cooper plays composer Leonard Bernstein in “Maestro” and also directed the film.

Barbie, a lively “feminist” satire about the all-conquering line of plastic dolls, will compete for best musical or comedy film. Actors Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and three of his original songs were also nominated.

Barbie received the second-most nominations in Globes history with “Cabaret” (1972). Robert Altman’s “Nashville” remains the record holder with eleven nominations.

“Oppenheimer,” a critically acclaimed drama about the inventor of the atomic bomb, was nominated in the best drama film category. Its leading actors – Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr and Emily Blunt – were also nominated.

The two were blockbusters collectively called “Barbenheimer”. after their theatrical release coincidentally fell on the same day.

In the television categories, murderous family drama “Succession” led all series with nine nominations, including for series stars Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin.

The winners will be announced on January 7th at a ceremony that will be broadcast live on CBS and streamed on Paramount+.

“Exciting change”

The Golden Globes are one of the most important competitions that can give films a boost heading into the Oscars in March.

But the awards held firm for several years after a Los Angeles Times expose in 2021 showed that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which votes on the awards, had no Black members.

This revelation sparked the expression of a host of other long-simmering criticisms of the HFPA, including accusations of amateurism and corruption. In June, HFPA was dissolved.

This year, the Globe winners are selected by a new organization: Eldridge Industries and Dick Clark Productions, which operates the awards as a for-profit company. The voting panel now consists of 300 journalists from 75 countries with 60 percent racial and ethnic diversity, organizers said.

Hollywood-based former HFPA members have been banned from accepting gifts and are now paid a salary to vote for their favorite films and shows, while more than 200 non-member (and unpaid) voters from around the world voted into the Globes Mixture was added.

“This has been a year of exciting changes for the Golden Globes,” the group’s president, Helen Hoehne, said in announcing the nominations on Monday.

“Our voting body has grown to 300 members from 75 countries, making the Golden Globes the most culturally diverse major awards body.”