Golden Globes Deny Lionsgate's Bid to Enter 'Michael' as a Comedy or Musical

The Golden Globes have denied Lionsgate's bid to enter "Michael," its Michael Jackson biopic, in the comedy or musical film categories for the 2027 awards, Variety first reported, a decision independently confirmed by TheWrap and Billboard. The film, which has taken in more than $1 billion worldwide since its April release, will now compete in the drama categories instead, a considerably more crowded field for its untested lead actor, Jaafar Jackson, who plays his real-life uncle in his first major screen role.

The decision caps a long and bumpy path to the screen for "Michael." Lionsgate cast Jaafar Jackson, a son of Jermaine Jackson who had never acted professionally, as the pop star in January 2023, and pushed the release date back twice, from an original spring 2025 target to October 2025 and finally to April 2026, as the studio reworked the film and, at one point, weighed splitting it into two parts. The project's budget has been reported at roughly $155 million before marketing. None of that turbulence slowed ticket sales once the film reached theaters.

Lionsgate had submitted "Michael," directed by Antoine Fuqua from a script by John Logan, for consideration as a musical or comedy, the category that has historically been easier for box-office hits to break into at the Globes. Under the organization's submission process, a studio entering a film in a category outside its obvious genre must include a letter from the director justifying the choice. Fuqua supplied one. The Globes' film committee reviewed it and rejected the request anyway, according to the trade reports, meaning "Michael" will be eligible only in the drama categories, including best motion picture, drama, and best actor in a motion picture, drama, when nominations are announced.

A dispute over what counts as a musical

The Golden Globes' own eligibility and consideration rules define the dividing line between categories by tone and function, not simply the presence of songs or dancing.

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

According to the trade reporting, the committee concluded that "Michael's" musical sequences function as concert-style performance set pieces rather than as devices that advance the story, which placed it outside the musical definition despite its subject matter and soundtrack. Lionsgate declined to comment on the ruling. People briefed on the studio's thinking told reporters an appeal is possible but considered unlikely to be pursued; the organization's submissions window, during which a studio can contest a category placement, closes Oct. 31.

The ruling drew notice in part because of an apparent inconsistency: Focus Features' horror film "Obsession" was accepted into the comedy or musical category for the same awards cycle, a looser application of the rules that several awards commentators have pointed out in the days since Lionsgate's rejection became public.

A billion-dollar hit, a tougher race

"Michael's" commercial performance is not in dispute. Lionsgate Studios' own first-quarter fiscal 2027 earnings release, covering the three months that included the film's theatrical run, credited the billion-dollar worldwide box office of "Michael" as the central driver of a 48 percent jump in company-wide revenue, to $776.6 million. The company's quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows Motion Picture segment revenue more than doubling year over year, to $587.3 million, with theatrical revenue alone climbing to $208.6 million from $28.7 million a year earlier. Trade outlets have reported the film's opening weekend took in roughly $217 million worldwide, far above the studio's initial projections, and that it became the first biopic to cross $1 billion globally, surpassing "Oppenheimer."

Critical reaction has been markedly cooler than audience turnout. Reviews have been mixed to negative, with several critics faulting the film for skating past the sexual-abuse allegations that shadowed Jackson's later life, and for leaning on Jaafar Jackson's resemblance and dancing rather than dramatic range in his screen debut. That gap between box office and reviews is part of what makes the category fight consequential: a comedy or musical slot would have put Jackson up against a thinner, more forgiving field, while best actor in a drama pits a first-time film lead against a roster of established award-season contenders competing for only six nomination slots. Supporting performers Colman Domingo and Nia Long are unaffected by the reclassification, since the Globes do not split its supporting-acting categories by genre.

Globes have gone both ways before

The Globes' comedy-or-musical line has moved before, and not always in the same direction. "Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018) and "Elvis" (2022), both music biopics with extensive performance footage, competed and were nominated as dramas, much as "Michael" now will. Earlier in the award's history, the opposite was true: "Ray," the 2004 Jamie Foxx biopic of Ray Charles, and "Walk the Line," the 2005 Johnny Cash film, were both entered as musicals or comedies and won, with Foxx and Reese Witherspoon taking the acting prizes. Matt Damon's "The Martian" and Michelle Williams' "My Week With Marilyn" also won in the comedy category despite debatable genre fits, fueling arguments from awards commentators that the Globes apply the distinction unevenly depending on the film and the year. That history is part of why the "Michael" ruling has become a talking point in the trade press rather than a routine administrative footnote: it is less a single consistent standard than a judgment call the committee makes, title by title and year by year, about whether a film's songs are doing dramatic work or simply staging a concert.

What happens next

Lionsgate's window to formally appeal the category decision runs through Oct. 31. Golden Globes nominations for the 84th ceremony are scheduled to be announced Dec. 7, with the show airing live on CBS and streaming on Paramount+ on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2027. Comedian Nikki Glaser is set to return as host for a third consecutive year; Golden Globes president Helen Hoehne said in a statement reported by Variety, "We are thrilled to welcome Nikki back to the Golden Globes stage in 2027." The previous ceremony drew more than 9 million same-day viewers in the United States and over 27 million worldwide, according to the network's figures.

For "Michael," the practical effect of the ruling will not be known until nominations are unveiled in December. The film's awards prospects now rest on whether voters are willing to put a first-time lead actor and a critically divisive film into direct competition with the season's established dramatic contenders, rather than the softer comedy and musical field Lionsgate had originally sought.