Back in April 2025, reports confirmed that the latest cut of Antoine Fuqua’s “Michael” clocked in at over four hours, and Lionsgate was going to pull the trigger in splitting the film into two parts. The goal was to turn it into an “event” movie akin to ‘Wicked.’
Almost a year later, “Michael” is nearing release, and according to AMC Theatres, its runtime is 2 hours and 10 minutes—meaning roughly 2 hours of footage, mostly from what was intended to be the second half of the film depicting Jackson’s controversial ‘90s, and his legal troubles, remains on the cutting room floor.
Just to refresh your memory, “Michael” had to rewrite and reshoot its entire third act due to legal issues involving one of the late singer’s accusers. The film also went tens of millions over budget.
According to Puck, the finished cut now ends with Jackson’s meteoric rise to superstardom in the 1980s—meaning everything that came after, including his implosion and the dark shadow of Neverland, is out. That’s despite two full weeks of footage filmed at Neverland Ranch. All of it? Scrapped, for now.
However, there are plans for a sequel that would tackle 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 in April. If it lands big, they’ll move forward. If not, those two hours of extra footage will go straight to the vault, a waste of money, and the Jackson estate, which has been covering the costs of this production fiasco, eats the loss
It’ll be interesting to see how the film’s portrayal of Jackson will be met by mainstream audiences. It’s already a foregone conclusion that critics will be complaining about it being a watered down depiction. As for the general moviegoer, I don’t believe they will care half as much about the endless accusations that plagued the musician during the last 20 years of his career. This one could hit the worldwide billion dollar mark.
“Michael” is set to hit theaters globally on April 24, 2026 via Lionsgate.