Michael

[Terry Monohan]

We watched this new movie a few days ago at the Cinelux Scotts Valley Cinema in Scotts Valley CA in Theatre Visitor Messages Nice curved screen 1.85 image and great stereo split surround sound.

New music movie star 'Jaffar Jackson' did a nice job playing 'Michael Jackson' along with Colman Domingo playing his controlling dad.

I think with the stunner hot opening weekend sales they will do a sequel. This 'Michael' movie only covers the first part of his legacy 1960's/80's. Missing were Diana Ross & Miss Taylor. plus the Neverland Ranch bust.

I think they had allot of legal issues and in fighting within the Jackson 5 family.

Turn up the volume and enjoy this bio film The press did not like the movie but the public loves It.

[Leo Enticknap]

The movie stops just before it would have had to start to cover the controversial aspects of Jackson's life: principally the allegations of pedophilia against him, and also misuse of prescription meds and financial issues towards the end of his life. It seems to me that the producers made the deliberate decision not to go there, to keep this as a mainstream feel good music biopic, and therefore to stop his biography at the high point in his career (in the same way that Abel Gance's Napoleon stops long before we get to the Battle of Waterloo and his final years on St. Helena). Those issues, if they are to be covered, are likely best kept for a separate movie. Yes, this one is a hagiography, but you know what you're getting if you decide to buy the tickets and go see it.

[Jim Cassedy]

Although the movie seems to be doing well nationally, it's pretty much been been a big
bomb at my venue in San Francisco. We did "OK" over the weekend, but since then,
weekday attendance has dropped like a rock. Last night, I believe we had more people
at a 9:30pm showing of the 1979 cult horror flick "Driller Killer", than we had all day for
the all the M.J. shows combined. Perhaps it will pick up again over the weekend.

(We'd probably have been better off keeping the 70mm "Project Hail Mary" another
week, but I don't think we could've done that because of booking commitments)

That being said, people who do come seem to enjoy it, and as Terry mentioned,
the audio mix sounds very good- - even on the crappy booth monitor I'm stuck with.

[Lyle Romer]

The movie stops just before it would have had to start to cover the controversial aspects of Jackson's life: principally the allegations of pedophilia against him, and also misuse of prescription meds and financial issues towards the end of his life. It seems to me that the producers made the deliberate decision not to go there, to keep this as a mainstream feel good music biopic, and therefore to stop his biography at the high point in his career (in the same way that Abel Gance's Napoleon stops long before we get to the Battle of Waterloo and his final years on St. Helena). Those issues, if they are to be covered, are likely best kept for a separate movie. Yes, this one is a hagiography, but you know what you're getting if you decide to buy the tickets and go see it.

I read that part of the reason they stopped the story when they did is that his Estate determined that, due to the NDAs signed as part of the settlements with accusers, they were not allowed to discuss those topics in any way. They couldn't even do it with a spin to his side of the story.

I might see this one of these days but I get the same uneasy feeling that I do when I walk by the "Michael Jackson One" theatre at Mandalay Bay. It rubs me the wrong way that heirs continue to profit off of the work that a deceased artist produced. Not just with Michael Jackson, but with all famous deceased artists.

[Jim Cassedy]

<edited> It rubs me the wrong way that heirs continue to profit
off of the work that a deceased artist produced. Not just with
Michael Jackson, but with all famous deceased artists.

I don't know that it 'bothers' me too much, but I do find it ironically annoying that many
deceased artists are making more money annually dead, than most of us will make
working hard our entire lives. I believe MJ is still the top earning dead-guy. I've read
that Jim Henson is still making a mintload of money off of Muppet merchandise also.

But, what brings it into perspective for me, is that I've got the one thing that those
guys, with all their millions, can't buy: I'm still alive. . and they're not.
You can't put a price on waking up and watching the sun rise daily, and even if it turns
out to be a really lousy day, it's still better than being six-feet-under, or in an ash urn.

[Ed Gordon]

The 2026 biopic Michael has achieved remarkable financial success despite mixed critical reception. The film earned $217.4 million globally in its opening weekend, with $97.2 million domestically and $120.4 million internationally, setting records as the highest-grossing debut for any biopic and the top global opening for a music biopic.

As of April 29, 2026, its total worldwide gross has reached $226.5 million, including $104.9 million in North America and $121.6 million overseas. The movie surpassed previous benchmarks set by Bohemian Rhapsody and Oppenheimer, and is on track to potentially reach $1 billion, which would make it the first biopic ever to do so.

Source: AI summary

The Berlin world premiere of Michael—the new Antoine Fuqua-directed biopic starring Michael Jackson’s nephew Jaafaar in the title role—saw thousands of King of Pop fans gather outside the theater, rapturous applause after each of the movie’s musical numbers, and fawning praise over the lead performance. Left out of the celebratory film and tightly controlled red carpet rollout was any mention of the sexual abuse accusations that complicate his legacy. Yet producer Graham King admitted to being “nervous and anxious” to see the film with audiences for the first time.

“A lot has happened on this film that I question how, why,” said King, who also produced the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. “I used to say Freddie Mercury was throwing hurdles down at me. Michael did the same. So Michael and Freddie are up there together laughing right now.”

With an initial $150 million budget, Michael was already the most ambitious biopic of all time when it wrapped initial production in May 2024. That was before the estate’s executors learned of a clause in a 1994 settlement with one of Jackson’s child molestation accusers agreeing to never dramatize their story on screen, rendering a significant amount of footage useless. Instead of a 3.5-hour epic, Lionsgate and the filmmakers decided to end the movie in the late 1980s at the height of Jackson’s career following Thriller and Bad—and the estate agreed to fund 22 days of additional production at a cost Forbes estimates to be more than $25 million (some reports put it at as much as $50 million)...

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattcra...-movie-estate/

[Lyle Romer]

I don't know that it 'bothers' me too much, but I do find it ironically annoying that many
deceased artists are making more money annually dead, than most of us will make
working hard our entire lives. I believe MJ is still the top earning dead-guy. I've read
that Jim Henson is still making a mintload of money off of Muppet merchandise also.

But, what brings it into perspective for me, is that I've got the one thing that those
guys, with all their millions, can't buy: I'm still alive. . and they're not.
You can't put a price on waking up and watching the sun rise daily, and even if it turns
out to be a really lousy day, it's still better than being six-feet-under, or in an ash urn.

Very well said. For sure I'd rather be broke and alive than rich and dead!

[Frank Cox]

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/may/22/michael-jackson-biopic-sequel-on-way

The studio behind hit Michael Jackson biopic Michael has revealed plans for a sequel despite the controversy that surrounded the original.
Speaking in a quarterly earnings call reported by Variety, Lionsgate motion picture chair Adam Fogelson said that preparations for a projected sequel “continue to go exceptionally well”.
Fogelson added: “I would say that there is a ton of incredibly entertaining Michael Jackson story, and much of the biggest and most popular parts of his music catalogue that were not touched upon in the first film. There are so many other events that happened, even in the time frame of the original movie that weren’t touched upon, so we’re very, very confident that we’ve got an incredibly entertaining movie that will appeal once again to a global audience.”
Michael delivered record breaking box office figures in both the US and UK on its release in April, with its current revenue standing at $715.8m (£533.2m) worldwide. The film ends with Jackson’s 1988 performance at Wembley Stadium in London, as part of his Bad tour.
However Michael’s production was dogged by issues surrounding allegations of child sex abuse against Jackson, with much of the original footage being scrapped after producers belatedly realised that the settlement between Jackson and one of his accusers, Jordan Chandler, meant that Chandler could not appear as a character or be mentioned in the film.
It is not clear how or even if a sequel will deal with child sex abuse allegations against Jackson, which first emerged in 1993. However, Fogelson suggested that the sequel may not follow chronologically, saying: “We can go forwards and backwards in telling this story.” He also suggested that some of the previously shot footage could be utilised for the sequel which would help lower the sequel’s production costs, saying: “We think we’ve got 25 to 30% of a second movie already shot from the prior production activity, and so obviously that will have some [financial] benefit ultimately.”

[Marcel Birgelen]

The movie stops just before it would have had to start to cover the controversial aspects of Jackson's life: principally the allegations of pedophilia against him, and also misuse of prescription meds and financial issues towards the end of his life. It seems to me that the producers made the deliberate decision not to go there, to keep this as a mainstream feel good music biopic, and therefore to stop his biography at the high point in his career (in the same way that Abel Gance's Napoleon stops long before we get to the Battle of Waterloo and his final years on St. Helena). Those issues, if they are to be covered, are likely best kept for a separate movie. Yes, this one is a hagiography, but you know what you're getting if you decide to buy the tickets and go see it.

For me, that's been the reason to skip this movie. I certainly acknowledge that Micheal Jackson was and still is an important cultural phenomenon, but any self-respecting biopic should not bypass the loaded amount of controversy surrounding the man. It's not just the allegations of "sexual misconduct" in different gradations, but also his reclusive lifestyle and almost everything surrounding his last tour, that never happened.