A trailer has finally been released for “Michael,” which is set to his theaters on April 24, 2026. It’s as glossy as you would expect it to be. Can’t say I’m not, at the very least, intrigued by how this one will turn out.
At this point, the biggest risk of 2025 might just be “Michael,” Anotoine Fuqua’s long-gestating Michael Jackson biopic that’s been through more behind-the-scenes chaos than Lionsgate would care to admit.
Director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter John Logan were forced to completely rethink the film after a rights dispute involving one of Jackson’s former molestation accusers rendered a large chunk of already-shot material legally unusable. This has led to only half the film being released next year.
Reshoots for “Michael” quietly wrapped in September, and the finished cut now ends with Jackson’s meteoric rise to superstardom in the 1980s—meaning everything that came after, including his court battles, have been cut. That’s despite two full weeks of footage filmed at Neverland Ranch. All of it? Scrapped.
Producer Graham King already has plans for a follow-up film that would tackle Jackson’s “King of Pop” years, with new material featuring Jaafar Jackson (Michael’s nephew, playing the man himself), Colman Domingo, and Miles Teller. The catch? The sequel only happens if “Michael” becomes a hit with audiences when it opens next April. If it lands big, or even shows strong early tracking, they’ll move forward. If not, all that extra footage turns out to be a waste of money, and the Jackson estate, which has been covering the costs of this production fiasco, eats the losses.
Earlier in the year, when things looked a little rosier for “Michael,” Fuqua reportedly had a cut running nearly four hours long, which Lionsgate had planned to split into two parts. The goal was to turn it into an “event” film, something on the scale of “Wicked.” Now? That latter half—roughly two hours of footage—might never see the light of day.
Lionsgate, which is handling domestic distribution, and Universal, managing the international rollout, are still betting hard on this one. A report surfaced earlier in the year, citing sources within the studio who said they believe “Michael” will be a billion-dollar grosser, or more.
So yes, “Michael” is finally finished. But it’s only half the movie Fuqua set out to make. Whether the rest ever sees daylight? That’s now entirely up to the audience.
With all that said, how about the hairpiece and prosthetics they put on Miles Teller in this film — he plays Jackson’s lawyer. That is one hell of a look.
