Beyonce Disqualified for Oscar Songwriting Category?

The Envelope's Gold Derby reports that Beyonce Knowles was not qualified as a songwriter on the song "Listen" from the Dreamgirls film by the songwriting branch of the Oscars. What's known as Rule 16 of the Oscar's eligibility states that only 3 songwriters max can be credited for an Oscar-nominated song. In many interviews promoting the film (and in the credits itself), Beyonce has said that she was involved with writing the song. However, the Oscars are only recognizing Henry Krieger, Anne Preven and Scott Cutler for the song.

The critically acclaimed musical Dreamgirls starring Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, and Jennifer Hudson, drew in $18.7 million over the weekend, finishing third behind Night at a Museum starring Ben Stiller and The Pursuit of Happiness starring Will Smith.

The film is based on Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen's 1981 Broadway hit, originally staged by Michael Bennett. The film is directed and adapted by Bill Condon and produced by Dreamworks.

Dreamgirls finished strong despite the movie being shown in only 852 theatres. However, it is scheduled that Dreamgirls will expand to 1,800 theatres on January 12, potentially giving Dreamgirls a bigger box office push.

Dreamgirls now has a cumulative gross of $41.7 million.

Dreamgirls is currently nominated for five Golden Globe Awards including Best Motion Picture for a Musical or a Comedy, and Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress in a Musical or Comedy for Knowles and Hudson, respectively.