Golden Globe Steals Spotlight from Academy?

Hollywood has a trophy season from January through March every year. A series of award-giving events will follow the Golden Globe held on Jan. 19, by the writers` association on Feb. 5, by directors` association on Mar. 1, producers` association on Mar. 2, actors` association on Mar. 9 and finally the Academy on Mar. 23.

Opening and closing the season of trophies are two high-profile events - the Golden Globe and the Oscar.

Then, how the landscape will change if the Academy Award is held earlier? Beginning 2004, the renowned annual event for the film industry will be held in late February, about a week ahead of the present schedule. The time gap between GG and Oscar, then, will be narrowed down to a month.

U.S. entertainment monthly `Variety` recently reported that the change in the `trophy season` timetable would benefit GG and dampen the festive mood for Oscar.

The magazine first pointed to that popularity of GG would remain intact despite the change in Oscar schedule. Since GG covers both movies and TV dramas and is the first major event of a year, it is bound to be star-studded and draw a large audience. For instance, actor Michael Cane and director Martin Scorsese, who are hard to be seen in Hollywood gatherings, attend GG almost every year.

GG also serves as good promotional opportunities although it is less prominent than Oscar. Distributors of this year`s award winners `Chicago` and `the Others` had lobbied aggressively to win the awards to better market worldwide those movies.

Once the Oscar is held in late February, the promotional effect of GG will further be strengthened. It is because GG and Oscar will vote for winners at about the same time, which will only work to increase GG`s influence over Oscar.

Variety also cited that GG is a more exciting and dynamic show than Oscar. Although the Academy Award is more pompous and formal, GG carries more relaxed atmosphere since it takes form of a dinner party. Participants can drink wine and come and go freely as they wish.

Experts say, therefore, that the less authoritative and friendlier-atmosphere GG will likely steal the spotlight from Oscar.

Hee-Kyung Kim susanna@donga.com