Sunday, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association will announce the winners of its 68th Golden Globe Awards. In preparation for this event, one of the oldest regularly-telecast productions on television and second only to the Oscars for televised film awards shows, we have decided to put together our thoughts and predictions for this weekend’s awards.

KEY:

BEST MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA

• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The King’s Speech WL RU
• The Social Network PP TB WH RU

Wesley Lovell: THE HFPA loves films set in other countries and since all of the other films are distinctly American, I’d say King’s Speech has a strong shot at this one.
Peter J. Patrick: The Social Network is on a roll. If The King’s Speech were a stronger film, it might overtake it, but I don’t see that happening.
Tripp Burton: The more traditional HFPA could give the Anglophile The King’s Speech a launching pad here, but they also like to jump on bandwagons, so look for The Social Network to pick up another award.

BEST MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY/MUSICAL

• Alice in Wonderland RU
• Burlesque RU
• The Kids Are All Right WL PP TB WH
• RED
• The Tourist

Wesley Lovell: They’ve already gotten plenty of flack for picking critically lambasted films like Alice, Burlesque and Tourist, so I expect them to go with the more critically minded film of the bunch.
Peter J. Patrick: I don’t see anything here that could remotely upset The Kids Are All Right.
Tripp Burton: The Kids Are All Right can’t lose here, but if it does, it would be to the one genuine comedy/musical in the group.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

• Despicable Me
• How to Train Your Dragon RU
• The Illusionist RU
• Tangled
• Toy Story 3 WL PP TB WH

Wesley Lovell: While The Illusionist might appeal to their foreign creds, I think this comes down to How to Train Your Dragon and Toy Story 3. While critics have universally gotten behind Pixar’s latest, I could imagine this group going for Dragon as not only a counter-protest, but to tell the world that there are other animation houses than Pixar. Then again, I’ve never known them to be that forward-thinking, so I go with Toy Story anyway.
Peter J. Patrick: Toy story 3 is so far above the competition I don’t see an upset.
Tripp Burton: Toy Story 3 really has no competition here.

BEST DIRECTOR

• Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
• David Fincher – The Social Network PP TB WH RU
• Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech WL
• Christopher Nolan – Inception RU
• David O. Russell – The Fighter

Wesley Lovell: They seldom reward a director outside of one of their Best Picture winners, so this goes to Tom Hooper.
Peter J. Patrick: I can’t imagine anyone other than Fincher taking this except Danny Boyle (127 Hours) and he’s not nominated.
Tripp Burton: The Globes don’t always go with the consensus front-runner here, which could lead to a boost to Nolan.

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA

• Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network WH
• Colin Firth – The King’s Speech WL PP TB
• James Franco – 127 Hours RU RU
• Ryan Gosling – Blue Valentine
• Mark Wahlberg – The Fighter

Wesley Lovell: Normally, these guys love stars and while they have a handful, Colin Firth is the only actor who has an international appeal and he’s the only non-American on the list and is in a Best Picture Drama winner.
Peter J. Patrick: I can see James Franco, whom they’ve honored before, pulling an upset, but this is the one award that will probably not be denied The King’s Speech.
Tripp Burton: The Globes love British actors, so Firth is a shoo-in to continue his ride to the Oscars.

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA

• Halle Berry – Frankie & Alice
• Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole RU RU
• Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone PP
• Natalie Portman – Black Swan WL TB WH
• Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine

Wesley Lovell: The HFPA will stake a claim here for the worldly Natalie Portman who has grace, charm and beauty and that’s just her off-screen appearance.
Peter J. Patrick: The Globes always have a surprise or two up their sleeves, and this could well be the category in which they spring one this year in honoring newcomer Lawrence.
Tripp Burton: Without Annette Bening as competition, this should be an easy win for Natalie Portman, but the star-loving Globes could also give a big push to Nicole Kidman.

BEST ACTOR, COMEDY/MUSICAL

• Johnny Depp – Alice in Wonderland WL WH
• Johnny Depp – The Tourist
• Paul Giamatti – Barney’s Version
• Jake Gyllenhaal – Love and Other Drugs RU RU
• Kevin Spacey – Casino Jack PP TB

Wesley Lovell: They nominated him twice, so not giving him an award would feel like a gyp. And besides, with the others on the list, the only one that appeals to their star-loving ways is Gyllenhaal and his film wasn’t even nominated for Best Picture Comedy/Musical.
Peter J. Patrick: I see this as a race between Spacey and Giamatti with Spacey winning it.
Tripp Burton: One of the weakest lineups in ages, thespian Spacey should win here as a Best Possible Option check.

BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY/MUSICAL

• Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right WL PP TB WH
• Anne Hathaway – Love and Other Drugs RU
• Angelina Jolie – The Tourist
• Julianne Moore – The Kids Are All Right RU
• Emma Stone – Easy A

Wesley Lovell: To carry over their almost-required win for The Kids Are All Right, I see this group giving its trophy to Bening. However, I could just as easily see them go for Anne Hathaway or Angelina Jolie just because they are bigger stars than Bening.
Peter J. Patrick: This one is Bening’s to lose.
Tripp Burton: Bening should win this in a cakewalk, but costar Moore needs a win more in order to get herself back in contention.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Christian Bale – The Fighter PP TB WH RU
• Michael Douglas – Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps RU
• Andrew Garfield – The Social Network
• Jeremy Renner – The Town
• Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech WL

Wesley Lovell: In this group, there is no bigger star than Michael Douglas, but his award is a nomination for a film that no one really cared for. While I want to give the slight edge to Bale, I have a sneaking suspicion that with King’s Speech‘s likely win, they’ll also give this award to Geoffrey Rush and start a near-snowball effect in prizes..
Peter J. Patrick: It’s between Bale and Rush, but I think Bale will take it.
Tripp Burton: Christian Bale has the momentum going into the evening, but sympathy for an ailing nominee has turned out surprise winners before.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Amy Adams – The Fighter PP TB RU
• Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech WL
• Mila Kunis – Black Swan WH RU
• Melissa Leo – The Fighter
• Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom

Wesley Lovell: As a companion to the other King’s Speech wins, I see Bonham Carter picking this one up, though look out for the attractive Mila Kunis and the also international-flavor of Jacki Weaver, though I doubt enough of them have seen the film.
Peter J. Patrick: Melissa Leo has won the preponderance of The Fighter‘s prior wins, but I have a hunch the Globes will want to shake things up a bit and reward Adams here instead.
Tripp Burton: The Globes like their big stars, and Amy Adams is the biggest name here, but hot young thing Mila Kunis could score a major upset here.

BEST SCREENPLAY

• 127 Hours PP
• The Kids Are All Right
• Inception
• The King’s Speech RU RU
• The Social Network WL TB WH

Wesley Lovell: There are two categories that I think King’s Speech will lose. This is one of them. Firstly, they’ll want to appear to spread the prizes around and secondly, they would get a lot of flack for picking The King’s Speech over any of the others. If it does win here, look to Original Score to determine if a clean sweep will occur.
Peter J. Patrick: The Social Network is Sorkin’s film – Fincher was pretty much a director for hire on this one, so it would be a shock for the film to win and him to lose. So I guess I’m predicting a shock.
Tripp Burton: Sorkin is the biggest name of the group, and this should be the movie’s easiest win of the night, unless sympathy for Seidler’s connection to his story pays off.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

• 127 Hours
• Alice in Wonderland
• Inception WL
• The King’s Speech TB RU
• The Social Network PP WH RU

Wesley Lovell: This is the other category The King’s Speech is likely to lose. And although the others are less traditional scores, Hans Zimmer is not a non-traditional composer. So, I expect him to take the prize, but if Speech wins, it could, and likely will, win everything in sight.
Peter J. Patrick: I see this as between 127 Hours and The Social Network, with the latter winning.
Tripp Burton: Desplat had the best year, but the Globes could like seeing rock star Trent Reznor up on stage.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• Bound to You – Burlesque
• Coming Home – Country Strong WH
• I See the Light – Tangled
• There’s a Place for Us – The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader WL TB
• You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me – Burlesque PP RU RU

Wesley Lovell: I think two nominations will split the vote for Burlesque and the song from Tangled is hardly noteworthy (I’m surprised it’s even getting any attention). And between the Country song or the highly generic theme from Dawn Treader, Narnia has a really good shot.
Peter J. Patrick: They love big and brassy, so I’m guessing one of the songs from Burlesque, but I really don’t have a clue on this one.
Tripp Burton: The Globes like a big name to take this award, so look for Carrie Underwood to get this one.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• Biutiful PP TB WH RU
• The Concert WL
• The Edge
• I Am Love RU
• In a Better World

Wesley Lovell: The HFPA is a very bizarre group and since only Biutiful is up for Oscar consideration, it could win, but I’m going out on a limb and picking The Concert.
Peter J. Patrick: Biutiful is the big year-end foreign film release, which is always a factor here.
Tripp Burton: Biutiful has the best reviews of the bunch, but I Am Love could appeal to voters more.