Is James Cameron’s Laser Cats the Oscar front-runner?

Last night James Cameron’s Avatar won the Best Drama Award at the 67th annual Golden Starfucker Globes Awards. What should we assume from this? Well, given that Avatar has earned nearly $500 million at the U.S. box office as of yesterday, and that the winner for Best Comedy, The Hangover, earned $277 million, this year the Globes basically equate “Best” with “Most Popular” or “Biggest Money-Making.” That’s not a huge surprise, since the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s annual award has always been less about awarding excellence than sheer fame itself. (Yes, even more than the Academy Awards.)

So how do the Golden Globes fare as a bellwether for the Oscars? Mixed. Cinematical crunches the numbers and finds the Globes’ winners to be at best an inconsistent predictor of the Best Picture Academy Award. That’s doesn’t mean that Avatar’s Golden Globe won’t add to its Oscar momentum, however.