Underplayed Gems

Michael (2026)

Michael poster
Directed by
Antoine Fuqua
Genre
drama film, biographical film, musical film
Country
United States
Runtime
2h 07m
Rated
PG-13
Rating
8.7 of 10 from 3,534 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

This is about the early life of Michael Jackson. It shows his childhood with the Jackson 5 and his rise to fame. The story covers his path to the Bad World Tour.

aspirationalenergeticnostalgicglamorousfast-pacedfamily-centricupbeatemotional

What happens

Michael is a 2026 biographical film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by John Logan. It follows the early life of the American singer Michael Jackson, covering his childhood with the Jackson 5 in the 1960s to the Bad World Tour in the late 1980s. Jackson is portrayed by his nephew Jaafar Jackson and as a child by Juliano Valdi, both in their film debuts. The supporting cast includes Nia Long, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Laura Harrier, Jessica Sula, Mike Myers, Miles Teller, and Colman Domingo. Development began in November 2019, when it was reported that Graham King had secured the rights to produce a film about Jackson, with Logan attached to write. Lionsgate announced the film in February 2022. In January 2023, Fuqua was announced as the director, and Jaafar was cast as Michael. Further casting took place from January to April 2024. After delays caused by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, principal photography took place between January and May 2024. After a clause was discovered in a legal settlement, references to the 1993 child sexual abuse allegations against Michael were removed, the third act was revised, and reshoots took place in June 2025, bringing the total production budget to $155–200 million. Michael premiered at the Uber Eats Music Hall in Berlin on April 10, 2026, and was released on April 22 in the UK by Universal Pictures and on April 24 in the United States by Lionsgate. It received generally negative reviews from critics, who praised Jaafar's performance but criticized the story as "sanitized". It grossed $1.002 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing biographical film, the first biographical film to reach $1 billion, the highest-grossing Lionsgate film, and the second-highest-grossing film of 2026. A sequel is in development. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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