Birdman, Selma and Benedict Cumberbatch hot favourites for Globes

Tina Fey, left, and Amy Poehler at the Golden Globe awards in 2014. Photo / AP

Hollywood is holding its breath ahead of the Golden Globes, with dark comedy Birdman leading the race for awards glory ahead of next month's all-important Oscars.

While an eve-of-show computer glitch appeared to suggest two other films could take the top prizes, Birdman is still in a strong position, earning a string of accolades and other nominations leading up to the Globes.

Unusually rainy weather on Sunday looks set to dampen the arrival of A-listers on the red carpet in Beverly Hills for the Globes, second only to the Oscars in terms of Tinseltown awards buzz.

Birdman, which stars former Batman Michael Keaton as a washed-up film actor trying to revive his career on stage, has earned the most nominations with seven.

Coming-of-age drama Boyhood and Nazi code-breaking thriller The Imitation Game starring Britain's Benedict Cumberbatch are also hotly tipped to take home trophies with five nods apiece.

Comic actresses Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will be hosting the show for the third straight year at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Barely 48 hours before the curtain goes up for the 72nd Globes ceremony, a website glitch appeared to suggest that Selma and Into the Woods could be set for best film honours.

The films were briefly posted on the Globes website as winning the best drama and best musical/comedy film awards, before the captions were taken down, according to industry journal Variety.

A spokesman said the films were chosen "randomly" from nominees' lists as web technicians fine-tuned the website ahead of the show, and that the captions should not have been live.

On the small screen, Fargo took the most nominations with five.

In the television categories, critics see a free-for-all now that the widely-acclaimed Breaking Bad is no longer on the air or in the running.

Unlike the Oscars, which are voted on by some 6000 industry members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Globes are selected by fewer than 100 journalists from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA).

But a Globes win can still provide a huge boost for an Oscars campaign.

Oscar nominations will be announced on Thursday. The Academy Awards will then be held on February 22.

• We'll have all the action from the red carpet and awards ceremony live from midday. Join us here at nzherald.co.nz

-AAP