Best Motion Picture Musical

The Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy is a prestigious accolade that is bestowed annually during the Golden Globe Awards ceremony presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). The award presented to the best musical or comedy film marks as a symbol of honor for the winning film recognizing it as a well-crafted work of art that is appealing and engaging thus setting it apart as the best film in the category.

The six original categories of the ceremony at the time of the latter’s inception by the Hollywood Foreign Correspondent Association (HFCA), the predecessor of HFPA, included Best Picture award category. The Song of Bernadette (1943) won the first Best Picture award at the 1st Golden Globe Awards ceremony in 1944. This category was later separated into Drama and Musical or Comedy genres in 1952 to pay specific attention to and recognize best films in both the genres and was first presented as two separate categories, namely Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy that year. Musical romcom An American in Paris (1951) became the first film to receive the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. No award was given in this category during the 11th Golden Globe Awards (1954) as the two separated award categories for Best Picture were reunified just once and was presented that year as Best Motion Picture – Drama award to the fictional Biblical epic film The Robe (1953).

From 1959 to 1963, the Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy category was split into two categories and given separately as Best Film – Comedy and Best Film - Musical award. The latter two were again reunified as Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy in 1964.

Some all-time great movies that won this award include Robert Wise directed West Side Story (1961), a film adaptation of the musical bearing same title, and The Sound of Music (1965); the Audrey Hepburn starrer My Fair Lady (1964); Barbra Streisand’s Yentl (1983); Damien Chazelle directed La La Land (2016); and Steven Spielberg’s 2021 film adaptation of the musical West Side Story. The latter’s win led the musical West Side Story to become the only source material two film adaptations of which won this award.

A film to become eligible for nomination in this category, considering its duration to be at least seventy minutes, must be screened at a commercial theatre in the greater Los Angeles area between January 1 and December 31 of the preceding year for a minimum of seven days, as well as for the members of the HFPA within one week following its commercial release. Main dialogue of the film must be in English. This category considers a musical to be a comedy or drama which includes songs besides spoken dialogue.

Starting from 1990 till 2005, ten animated movies garnered nomination in this category of which three namely Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Toy Story 2 won the award in 1992, 1995 and 2000 respectively. The latter’s nominated predecessor Toy Story however lost to Babe in 1996. Likewise, Borat, nominated predecessor of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (which won in 2021), also lost to Dreamgirls in 2007. The HFPA later created a separate category for animated films, Best Animated Feature Film, which was first presented in 2007 and since then animated films became ineligible for nomination in the Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy categories.

List Of Winners - Golden Globes Best Motion Picture Musical Or Comedy