Dreamgirls is a 2006 American Musical Film

Dreamgirls is a 2006 American musical film jointly produced and released by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures. The film was released in three special road show engagements beginning December 15, 2006, with a nationwide expansion on December 25, 2006 and a wide release on January 12, 2007.

A musical set in the 1960s and 1970s with a predominantly African-American cast, Dreamgirls is adapted from the 1981 Broadway musical of the same name, which itself is loosely based upon both the history of Motown act The Supremes and the evolution of American R&B music over the years. The film follows the lives of three women - Effie White, Deena Jones, and Lorrell Robinson - who, as members of an R&B singing group called “The Dreamettes”, become famous as the backing group for soul singer James “Thunder” Early, thanks to manipulative manager and record label executive Curtis Taylor, Jr. Conflict arises when Curtis desires to transform the Dreamettes into “The Dreams”, a pop-friendly act, particularly when he has Deena replace the heavier Effie as both lead singer of the group and as his romantic interest.

The PG-13 rated movie is a film adaptation of Dreamgirls, which had been in development at various times during the 1980s and 1990s, stars Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles, and Eddie Murphy, also featuring Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose, Keith Robinson, Sharon Leal, Hinton Battle, and, in her film debut, Jennifer Hudson (of American Idol fame). Produced by Laurence Mark, Dreamgirls was written and directed for the screen by Bill Condon, screenwriter of the Academy Award-winning film adaptation of Chicago, working from the original Broadway book by Tom Eyen and the Broadway songs by Eyen and Henry Krieger.