The Golden Globes’ New Date Is the Same as the Oscars’ Old One

A sight you have not seen in a while. Photo: Barcroft Media/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

The international journalists that make up the Hollywood Foreign Press Association have been going without junkets, meet-and-greets, and passed hors d’oeuvre for three months now, so they’ve decided to start a bunch of drama just for the hell of it. A week after the Academy decided to move the 2021 Oscars back to April, the New York Times reports that the HFPA has set its own new date for next year’s Golden Globes: February 28, which just so happens to be the exact date the Oscars just left. (The paper notes that the HFPA “gave no explanation for its selection,� which is perfect.) As previously announced, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will return to break Ricky Gervais’s death grip on the hosting gig, and the HFPA confirms that the event will take place in person, optimistically promising that it will be “Hollywood’s party of the year.� Take that, Zoom!

But back to the date: February 28 also happens to be the deadline for the Oscars’ controversial eligibility expansion, which would seem to indicate that the Globes will not be following the Academy’s lead on that front. (Though they were the first ceremony to announce that, due to the coronavirus pandemic shutting down the theatrical industry, streaming-only films would be able to compete.) In any event, get ready for an awards season where every precursor is working with different rules and no one can remember what movies are eligible under which cutoffs. Hey, it works for the Grammys … ?