The Revenant Takes The Golden Globe For Best Picture While Failing To Take The Box Office

In an upset win at the Golden Globes, The Revenant beat out Carol, Mad Max: Fury Road, Room and Spotlight to win the award. The Revenant received two other awards when Leonardo DiCaprio won for best actor and director Alejandro González Iñárritu won best director for a motion picture.

US News & World Report reported that Leonardo DiCaprio, who appears to be headed for his first Oscar, dedicated his award for The Revenant to “First Nations people represented in this film and all the indigenous peoples around the world.”

“It is time that we recognize your history and that we protect your indigenous lands from corporate interests and people out there to exploit them.”

The Revenant takes place in 1823 when legendary frontiersman Hugh Glass is attacked by a bear and then robbed and left for dead by his hunting team. Glass, grief stricken and determined to survive the attack and return to his family, works his way back home to seek revenge against his confidant John Fitzgerald who betrayed him and left him for dead in the uncharted wintry terrain.

Released the same weekend as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Revenant nearly toppled Star Wars: The Force Awakens with a $38 million opening. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu used the same seamless photography to create the film that he used in Birdman, last year’s Oscar winner. The movie itself is based on a true story from a book written by Michael Punke. The Revenant’s movie theater debut is Gonzales Iñárritu’s best opening ever while it is the fourth best for Leonardo DiCaprio and co star Tom Hardy.

This year’s Golden Globes were hosted by Ricky Gervais whose act dominated the evening. This is his fourth time hosting the awards show. Ridley Scott’s The Martian, starring Matt Damon, also received the award for Best Picture for a comedy. Greeted with a standing ovation, Sylvester Stallone received the best supporting actor in the follow up film to the Rocky Balboa films, Creed. He paid tribute to his character, Rocky Balboa, the only part he’s ever won another Golden Globe for.

“I want to thank my imaginary friend Rocky Balboa for being the best friend I ever had.”

Deadline reported that this may be a run up to the Oscar for Director Gonzalez Iñárritu. Although he didn’t win the best director or best picture at the Golden Globes last year for his movie Birdman, his film did win the Oscar. Michael Keaton also won the Golden Globe for best actor for his role in the movie.

Gonzalez Iñárritu, who accepted the award on behalf of The Revenant, paid tribute to Native Americans, co-producers and cast. He said that he was proud to have survived the film. The Revenant has also been nominated for best picture at the BAFTAs, the Critics’ Choice and several film critics groups. The film also stars Tom Hardy as DiCaprio’s nemesis John Fitzgerald.

The Revenant had strong competition this year from films Carol, Mad Max: Fury Road, Room and Spotlight. Carol tells the story of a romance in 1950s New York between an older woman going through a divorce and a young shop girl she meets. In a twist to the awards, Tom Hardy, who played John Fitzgerald in The Revenant, also stars in Mad Max: Fury Road as Max Rockatansky, a former captive of the Citadel who joins the warrior Imperator Furiosa, portrayed by Charlize Theron, in fighting against the Immortan Joe who enslaves post apocalyptic survivors years after the collapse of civilization. Room tells the story of a woman and her five year old son held captive for years and then released into freedom. Spotlight is based on a true story of the journalistic investigation against a defrocked priest accused of molesting 80 boys.

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