EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate and Universal‘s Michael Jackson biopic Michael is officially moving to Friday, April 24, and that’s a global theatrical release.
At the same time, we hear that a second movie about Jackson remains in development.
We told you at CinemaCon there were distribution plans afoot for the feature directed by Antoine Fuqua and produced by Graham King. Michael also will get a release on Imax screens.
The delay with Michael has been twofold, one being its length — there was a first cut in excess of 3½ hours. There also have been reports that the initial cut of the movie made references to 13-year old Jordan Chandler, who accused Jackson of molestation and who the pop singer settled with for $20M in 1994 with no admission of guilt. While the screenplay by three-time Oscar nominee John Logan was developed, approved by the estate and shot to include Chandler, after production wrapped, it was revealed there was an agreement for him not to be included. Hence the production had to go back and re-approach the material. Jackson’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, plays the King of Pop.
There aren’t any major studio wide entries on April 24 at this stage, hence a great choice for Lionsgate. Michael will open in the wake of New Line/Blumhouse’s Lee Cronin’s The Mummy and Amazon MGM Studios/Miramax’s Liam Neeson pic 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank from director Frankie Shaw on April 17. Michael also will precede the May 1 release of 20th Century Studios’ The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Warner Bros/Legendary’s Animal Friends.
This is the third time that Michael has moved. The pic’s first release date was April 18, 2025, then October 3.
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Oscar winner King’s previous music biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, won four Oscars and grossed over $910M at the worldwide box office.
Kino Films is releasing Michael in Japan, while Universal has the rest of the world.