It was a weekend of bombshells in the entertainment industry, with rumors swirling late Sunday about two pending announcements that could launch the ongoing writers’ strike into an entirely new phase.

The upcoming Golden Globe Awards ceremony, set to air on NBC on January 13, is on the verge of having its nationwide telecast canceled, Variety reported Sunday. After the announcement late last week that most of the nominated actors, actresses, and filmmakers would not cross Writers Guild of America picket lines to attend the annual event, both NBC and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which operates the Globes, were left scratching their heads as to how they could put on the awards spectacle despite lacking both the needed words to build a script and the needed celebrities to read them.

While that announcement’s impact on the current awards season could be profound (the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is poised to announce its Oscar nominees the morning of January 22 and air its awards ceremony on February 24), equally fascinating is the speculation being reported by the Hollywood Reporter and other California outlets that the movie studio United Artists is close to securing its own deal with the WGA to allow writers to return to work in conjunction with UA projects.

The independent arm of parent studio MGM, UA was recently taken over by partners Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner. If the studio cuts its own deals with the writers, the effect on the movie industry would be similar to that of the individually negotiated contract in the world of television between the WGA and David Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants. Mr. Letterman’s show and that of CBS colleague Craig Ferguson — both of which are owned by Worldwide Pants — are the only late-night talks shows currently allowed by the WGA to work with writers.

If the deal is confirmed, UA would be the only major movie studio with a functioning writing staff, though it is still unclear if other studios would follow suit. Many are represented by the board of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which has refused to negotiate with the WGA since walking away from the table on December 7. UA is not represented on the AMPTP board, meaning Mr. Cruise and Ms. Wagner may be more willing to go it alone.

ssnyder@nysun.com