‘Michael’ Most Likely Delayed to 2026

You’d think Cinemacon would have been a perfect opportunity for Lionsgate to release new images, footage, or any update about Antoine Fuqua’s “Michael.” Well, think again. Things are currently looking rather shaky for this film.

The Michael Jackson biopic was not mentioned during Lionsgate’s afternoon panel. They should have said something because now you have plenty of journalists making calls, emailing around, seeking information about it. I bet something will likely come out in the coming hours.

“Michael” is supposed to hit theaters in October, but don’t expect it to make that date. Although Lionsgate did not comment, I’m now thinking that the film’s absence at CinemaCon has to do with the fact that the film is currently embroiled in a legal dispute — Fuqua also has to rewrite, reshoot and recut the entire third act.

Back in February, I had reported on the potential date change, but a rep for Lionsgate quickly reached out and denied the story. The film, they claimed, still had that October 3, 2025 slot on the release calendar.

A few journalists are already starting to weigh in on the inevitable, and it all seems rather dour at the moment for “Michael.” Here’s Puck’s Matt Belloni:

Uh oh: At CinemaCon, Lionsgate declined to give an update or say anything about the delayed Michael Jackson movie, which is still scheduled for October release.

Meanwhile, Jeff Sneider seems to have a source telling him that the film has been delayed to 2016. He’ll be reporting more on it later tonight via his newsletter :

I held off on reporting more about MICHAEL last night, as I wanted to wait & see what Lionsgate had to say about the movie today... but they barely said anything... which itself says it all […] 99 percent sure MICHAEL is getting delayed to 2026. No comment from Lionsgate.

Last month, we learned that the third act of “Michael” had been completely scrapped and would have to be rewritten and reshot due to some major legal issues involving one of his accusers. Additional photography had been set up for this month, but that was only if Lionsgate gave the go-ahead on the new script.

A recent cut of “Michael” clocked in at nearly four hours and “still felt incomplete,” which means Lionsgate could pull the trigger in splitting the film into two parts to recoup the massive budget ($250M+). I’ll update this piece when more details come out.