Oppenheimer was named best movie drama by roughly 300 entertainment journalists who voted on the Globes as a part of a new organisation created after an ethics and diversity scandal.
Poor Things, starring Emma Stone as a deceased woman revived by scientists, won best movie musical or comedy, beating female-empowerment blockbuster Barbie.
In television categories, Succession was named best drama. The Bear, about the struggles of owning a restaurant, won best TV comedy.
The glitzy ceremony kicked off Hollywood's annual awards season, which culminates with the Oscars on March 10, and brought top stars together for the first time after six months of strikes by actors and writers in 2023.
The event gave performers the chance to mingle and to publicise their movies and TV shows after months when red carpets and other promotion was prohibited.
Australians Elizabeth Debicki and Sarah Snook were also winners.
Debicki was named best Supporting Actress in a TV series for portraying Diana, Princess of Wales, in The Crown and Sarah Snook won her second Golden Globe for best female actor in a TV series drama, for her role in Succession.
Star Cillian Murphy won for playing J Robert Oppenheimer in director Christopher Nolan's story about the making of the atomic bomb. Nolan also won as director and Robert Downey Jr as best supporting actor.
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