‘Michael’ Denied Musical Status at the Golden Globes, Sending the $1 Billion Biopic to Drama

The Golden Globes have decided Michael is not a musical. The awards’ committee has denied Lionsgate’s bid to enter the Michael Jackson biopic in the musical or comedy categories for the 2027 ceremony, so the first biopic to gross $1 billion worldwide is now slated to compete as a drama, Billboard reports. Gold Derby reported it first, and Variety and TheWrap confirmed it on Tuesday (Oct. 20).

The decision comes down to a single sentence in the Globes’ rules:

A musical can be a comedy or a drama in which songs are used in addition to spoken dialogue to further the plot.

Golden Globes rules, Variety

Billboard says the Globes generally go along with a studio’s preference, but this time members felt the musical performances in Michael did not sufficiently drive the narrative. A film filed against the grain needs a letter from its director, and Variety says Antoine Fuqua’s was part of Lionsgate’s submission. The committee denied the request anyway.

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Variety’s read is that Jaafar Jackson performs many of his uncle’s biggest hits on screen, but the organization seems to have viewed those sequences as re-creations rather than storytelling. The line dates to Ray and Walk the Line, which won in the musical or comedy field in the mid-2000s and, Variety says, prompted the rule requiring songs to propel the story. Bohemian Rhapsody won best drama, and Inside Llewyn Davis is the exception, per Billboard. Watch the trailer below.

The ruling matters most for Jaafar Jackson. The lead acting categories are split by genre, and Billboard says the drama side is seen as the more competitive, which could hurt his shot at a best actor nomination for his first film role. TheWrap puts him up against likely nominees including Matt Damon in The Odyssey and Andrew Scott in Elsinore. The supporting categories aren’t split, so Colman Domingo and Nia Long, who play Jackson’s parents, are unaffected. In best picture, Billboard says Michael now sits alongside Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Three.

None of that dents the film’s commercial case. Michael has grossed $1.029 billion worldwide, $117 million ahead of Bohemian Rhapsody, the previous top music biopic, per Billboard. Variety calls it Lionsgate’s biggest release ever and says it made a star of Jackson, who had never acted professionally. Our opening-weekend story has the record debut.

Billboard and Variety both note that their parent company, Penske Media, owns the Globes’ producer, Dick Clark Productions, in a joint venture with Eldridge.

Lionsgate can appeal before the Oct. 31 submission deadline, but sources tell Billboard and Variety it probably won’t, and the studio declined to comment to Variety. Nominations for the 84th Golden Globes come Monday, Dec. 7, and Nikki Glaser hosts the ceremony on Sunday, Jan. 10.