Michael is a music biopic in development after a slew of successful ones. 2018 saw the success of the Queen musical biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which made over $900 million worldwide and was nominated for multiple Academy Awards. This momentum has continued with movies like last year’s A Complete Unknown. Michael tackles the story of the King of Pop, putting the musician’s real-life nephew, Jaafar Jackson, in the lead role. It will be directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by John Logan, with producers including Graham King, John Branca, and John McClain.
King is the lead producer on the film, whereas both McClain and Branca came to the project with more direct involvement in Jackson’s life. The pair serve as executors for his estate, which has continually challenged the biopic. During the last third of his life, the King of Pop faced accusations of pedophilia and child molestation, which were well-chronicled in the documentary miniseries Leaving Neverland. For Michael, this has already caused controversy as to how it will portray these issues, as the estate maintains Jackson’s innocence, but the public often feels differently.
Michael’s Shock Legal Issues, Explained
The Executor-Producers Missed A Major Detail
As per early reports, the biopic ended up addressing the accusations, but they would allegedly do so in a manner that helped to prove Jackson’s innocence. There was a time when Michael could have already come out. After releasing early footage at CinemaCon in 2024, it was once scheduled to be released in April 2025 and then moved until at least October. The initial report on this delay did not say why the film, which had already been heavily hyped by Fuqua and King, was being delayed, but its reasoning ended up being shocking.
What the estate somehow overlooked, however, was that the Chandlers entered an agreement with Jackson and his team that forbade any dramatization of the family or their story.
According to a Puck report in January (from Matthew Belloni, who had read the script), the screenplay began and ended by addressing a 1993 investigation initiated by Jordan Chandler. Then 13 years old, Chandler accused Jackson of molestation in a case that would make headlines and result in a $20 million settlement. As per the original ending, Jackson is seen as the victim while the Chandler family is portrayed as a group of people searching for money and making false claims to do so.
What the estate somehow overlooked, however, was that the Chandlers entered an agreement with Jackson and his team that forbade any dramatization of the family or their story. There is reportedly even a signed agreement between the parties outlining this. After the estate failed to catch this when looking through the script, the Michael team was left in a challenging position; they would have to entirely scrap the ending after completing filming for the $150 million film.
New Filming Report Reveals How Michael Could Be Saved
Reshoots Start Soon
A script revamp of this scale might stop many films in their tracks, but a new Puck report reveals how Michael could be resuscitated after all. First and foremost, Fuqua and his team have reshoots scheduled. That additional filming starts next week and will last three weeks, with the film’s new third act already written. All the Chandler content has been eradicated from the new script, though exactly what the film’s new version focuses on is now unclear. As per an existing agreement, the estate will be funding these reshoots.
The need for reworking also means that Michael will be delayed yet again. Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer confirmed this, noting that the film will not hit the October 3 date. While it seems like Michael will almost certainly be coming sometime in 2026 now, the revised release date has not been revealed. But, if the reshoots happen successfully, the film will still be released.
What This Means For Michael
Will Michael Be One Or Two Movies?
While Michael will likely be released, it will almost certainly not be put out in its original form. A report from April revealed that the movie might be split into two, to help account for its nearly four-hour cut. This gargantuan runtime allegedly includes at least an hour and 45 minutes of performances from Jaafar Jackson alone. Producer King is strongly advocating for the movie to be split up, and the cast and crew are even in talks to return to filming again in July to shoot even more footage for this potential second movie.
Secondly, the second film’s release would be contingent on the performance of the first Michael movie.
Doing this poses several risks, however. Firstly, Michael‘s distributors (domestically Lionsgate, and, if talks go successfully, Skydance internationally) could back out if the version of the biopic is not what they originally signed on to create. It is possible that the studios could respond well to the change, but if not, losing distribution could be the next challenge faced by the already fraught production.
Secondly, the second film’s release would be contingent on the performance of the first Michael movie. Studios have already seen how poorly this worked out with Kevin Costner’s Horizon movies, and would not likely want to deal with the mess that is now the indefinitely delayed Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 release. Furthermore, it is not precedent to release multi-part biopics outside the documentary space, so there is no roadmap for how this would work out. Even if King’s wishes are granted, a two-part Michael may create even further challenges.
Source: Puck
