“Babel” and “The Departed” Neck and Neck According to the Envelope “Buzzmeter” Panel

Los Angeles, CA –January 9, 2007 – With the Golden Globes less than a week away, The Envelope, the entertainment awards insider from the Los Angeles Times, has unveiled its Golden Globe film forecast Buzzmeter panel results at TheEnvelope.com.

Revealing the names the top entertainment industry media experts anticipate will be winners on January 15th 2007, Buzzmeter bombshells include Sasha Barron Cohen topping the list for Best Actor, Comedy or Musical for his blockbuster “Borat,” despite his recent snub from the Screen Actors Guild and Meryl Streep who was a clean sweep with pundits for Best Actress, Comedy or Musical for “The Devil Wears Prada.” In addition, “Dreamgirls” was voted the #1 contender for Best Picture, Comedy or Musical and the panel was equally divided between “Babel” and “The Departed” in the Golden Globe’s Best Picture, Drama category. Forest Whitaker was the favorite for the Best Actor, Drama for his work in “The Last King of Scotland.”

“The Buzzmeter offers a unique opportunity for both industry insiders and entertainment fans to quickly and easily get awards insight from the most reliable experts in the business,” said Scott Robson, executive producer of The Envelope. “We are thrilled and honored to bring this extraordinary group of critics and pundits together on the Buzzmeter panel.”

TheEnvelope.com’s Buzzmeter brings together a diverse group of respected entertainment journalists and veterans including Richard Roeper (Ebert & Roeper), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone), Gene Seymour (Newsday), Claudia Puig (USA Today), Art Spiegelman (Reuters), and Tom O’Neil (The Envelope), to weigh in on who’s hot and who’s not in key awards races throughout the season. These industry experts tap the pulse of the entertainment community, providing frequent updates in the races that rank the leading contenders in a variety of categories.

The Buzzmeter delivers insider information each Monday morning at www.theenvelope.com, when panel results are posted as both a composite of the highest scores in each category as well as individual panelist rankings and initial results for leading Golden Globes contenders in film are as follows:

BEST MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA – TIE BETWEEN “BABEL” AND “THE DEPARTED”
BEST MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL- “DREAMGIRLS”
BEST ACTOR, DRAMA – FOREST WHITAKER, “THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND”
BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA – HELEN MIRREN, “THE QUEEN”
BEST ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL – SASHA BARON COHEN, “BORAT”
BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY OR MUSICAL – MERYL STREEP, “THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA”

The Envelope is the quintessential awards resource, offering both the entertainment industry and entertainment enthusiasts fresh topical coverage of contending films, music and personalities, along with the inherent festivities, fashions, parties, politicking and odds-making. Online, The Envelope (www.theenvelope.com) has a growing reputation for breaking exclusive news stories and providing insight into all that happens behind-the-scenes with in-depth reporting, photo galleries, audio and video podcasts, lists, forums, polls, expert roundtables, archives and analysis of awards. The Envelope print series, a content-rich 11-week supplement in the Los Angeles Times, looks at each of the major creative disciplines, from best actor and best director to the creative disciplines of special effects and animation. Each edition will offer a lineup of regular features, including “The Corner Office,” James Bates’ high-powered chats with Hollywood movers and shakers; the Buzzmeter; Tom O’Neil’s “In Contention” wrap-up; Elizabeth Snead on the red carpet fashion and celebrity party scene; and news and analysis from entertainment reporter John Horn and Big Picture columnist Patrick Goldstein.
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