It’s the summer of 1988 and Michael Jackson has built a permanent residence on top of the world. Not only has 1982’s “Thriller” become the best-selling album of all time, but he has left the Jackson 5 (rebranded as the Jacksons) after one last “Victory” tour in 1984. “But, my friend, you have seen nothin’ / Just wait ’til I get through,” he now belts to a sold-out crowd while dancing atop the Wembley Stadium stage during a triumphant performance on the “Bad” world tour.
That’s where “Michael,” the Jackson biopic opening Friday, concludes. It’s a full-throated celebration of the singer, dropping in on Jackson’s most memorable pop-culture moments, such as the music video for “Thriller” or the “Motown 25” special where he popularized the moonwalk. But that wasn’t screenwriter John Logan’s initial plan. A series of reshoots altered the film’s ending, which had initially included sexual abuse allegations against Jackson from 1993, Lionsgate confirmed. The studio also said that the nixed footage had infringed upon an earlier settlement agreement between accuser Jordan Chandler’s family and the Jackson estate.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua, “Michael” begins in Gary, Indiana, where a young King of Pop — played by the singer’s nephew Jaafar Jackson — practices along with his brothers for their earliest shows as the Jackson 5. After they eventually sign to Motown, Michael fights with his father, Joe (Colman Domingo), about embarking upon a solo career. “Michael” also looks at Jackson’s recovery from second-degree burns after his hair caught on fire while filming a 1984 Pepsi commercial. Elsewhere in the film, Jackson alludes to his experience with vitiligo, receives rhinoplasty surgery and visits sick children in hospitals.
The Jackson estate has been involved with the project from the start, granting the rights to Jackson’s life and music — and later paying for a costly reshoot.
The choice to omit the allegations against Jackson has been disparaged by critics. But the approach also has its defenders: Lionsgate Studios and Universal Pictures pointed to the success of the Broadway show “MJ the Musical” as proof of concept. And some Jackson fans and scholars are pleased that “Michael” concentrates on his music, not the alleged behavior that made him a tabloid fixture.
“I do feel like the controversies have been explored ad nauseam,” Joe Vogel, who wrote “Man in the Music,” an album-by-album analysis of Jackson’s discography, told The Washington Post. “I mean, this was like a singular artist, right? To occasionally put the emphasis or the focus on his artistry, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”
Despite the allegations against Jackson, “Michael” is expected to open to $150 million at the global box office this weekend, according to Deadline. Here’s everything to know about how the film deals with Jackson’s controversies.
Why were there reshoots?
After filming wrapped in 2024, Jackson’s estate realized it had a problem on its hands. Following the 1993 abuse allegations by Chandler, then 13, Jackson had signed an agreement with his family that prohibited either party from communicating about what had happened. As a result, substantial footage needed to be cut, Lionsgate confirmed. (In 1994, Chandler’s family and Jackson reached a financial settlement in which Jackson denied any wrongful acts. Chandler and his family could not be reached for comment.)
Producer Graham King, along with the “Michael” team, reworked the film’s ending to omit Chandler, while the Jackson estate paid millions of dollars for reshoots and landed an equity stake in the film, Lionsgate confirmed.
“It was pretty crazy and surreal,” King told the Wall Street Journal. “I’ve never experienced that where you finish a film and then find out you didn’t have the legal rights to tell that story.”
King declined to comment for this story.
The omitted footage also depicted the 1993 police raid on Neverland Ranch, Jackson’s longtime home. “I shot [Jackson] being stripped naked, treated like an animal, a monster,” Fuqua told the New Yorker, adding that he didn’t know the truth of the matter when it came to the allegations against the singer. (A representative for Fuqua told The Post that he was in preproduction on another project and unavailable to comment.)
King received the rights to Jackson’s life and music from Jackson’s estate months after the 2019 release of the controversial HBO documentary “Leaving Neverland,” per a Deadline report. That film centers on two of Jackson’s posthumous accusers, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who have a joint lawsuit against the estate, which denies the allegations. “Robson and Safechuck’s claims have no merit in either law or fact,” Jackson estate attorney Jonathan Steinsapir said in a statement to The Post. A lawyer for the accusers did not respond to a request for comment.
Jackson’s estate sued HBO and eventually succeeded in getting the documentary removed from the network’s streaming service by arguing that the film violated a non-disparagement clause in a 1992 contract between the network and Jackson. “It was resolved amicably,” HBO said in a statement to The Post. The estate considered producing a counter-documentary but instead decided to support the making of a biopic, John Branca, an executor of Jackson’s estate, told the Financial Times. (Branca did not respond to a request for comment.)
Dan Reed, who directed “Leaving Neverland,” obtained an early version of the “Michael” script. In an interview with The Post, Reed said that the screenplay he read portrayed Jackson as a victim of Chandler’s “greedy” parents. But he wasn’t surprised that Jackson was given sympathetic treatment.
“There’s no way that a feature film by the estate would characterize him [Jackson] in any other way,” Reed said. “I thought it was cruel to portray the child … as a fraud. That was pretty shocking.”
Will there be a sequel?
Producers and studio executives haven’t been shy about the possibility of a sequel. The film itself alludes to this, with a title card that reads “His story continues” at the end of the film. An outline has been sketched out for a second film, Lionsgate said, noting previously shot footage could be used if a sequel comes to fruition.
It’s unclear how much the sequel would focus on the sexual abuse allegations and legal cases Jackson faced — and fought — before his 2009 death at age 50. In 2005, Jackson was tried and acquitted of molesting Gavin Arvizo, who was 13 at the time of the alleged abuse. (A lawyer who represented Arvizo’s family then didn’t return a request for comment and The Post was unable to reach Arvizo.) And earlier this year, four siblings accused Jackson of sexually abusing them as children in a lawsuit.
For Vogel, the “Michael” filmmakers have an opportunity to humanize Jackson. He hopes that a potential sequel would show the allegations against Jackson in an evenhanded way.
“My biggest concern is these biopics tend to mythologize,” Vogel said. “It’s very broad strokes. I like complexity and Michael’s a very complex figure. In my mind, it’s a difficult task.”
Vogel is ultimately more curious about a follow-up because he believes that the ’90s are Jackson’s richest period of songwriting. Meanwhile, Reed doesn’t believe that there will be a second film about Jackson, in part, because he doesn’t know how the sequel would portray the allegations against Jackson without alienating its audience.
“I don’t think they’re ever going to get around to it because … he was so blatantly spending the night with children,” Reed said. “He didn’t even deny it. I don’t know how you tackle that in a movie.”
In the 2003 documentary, “Living with Michael Jackson,” the pop star admitted that “many children” have slept in the same bed with him.
“Why can’t you share your bed?” Jackson asks earlier in the documentary, while sitting next to Arvizo. “The most loving thing to do is share your bed with someone.”
How is the Jackson family involved?
In 2023, Michael’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, was announced to play Michael. Other members of the Jackson family — including Michael’s siblings Jermaine, Tito, Jackie, La Toya and Marlon, plus his son, Prince — are credited as executive producers on “Michael.” The Guardian reported that family members and friends of Michael were often on set, while Jermaine offered feedback to Fuqua.
Not everyone in the Jackson family is on board, though. Michael’s daughter, Paris, who declined to speak to The Post, said on social media that she provided “notes about what was dishonest” in an early draft of the script that were not addressed. (Lionsgate declined to comment on the development process.)
“They’re going to make whatever they’re going to make,” Paris said on Instagram. “A big reason why I haven’t said anything up until this point is because I know a lot of you guys are gonna be happy with it. A big section of the film panders to a very specific section of my dad’s fandom that still lives in the fantasy, and they’re gonna be happy with it.”
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