Movies - Michael : Antoine Fuqua Brings the King of Pop Back to Life in a Bold, Spectacular, and Deeply Human Biopic

By Mulder, 08 november 2025

Announced as one of the most ambitious musical projects of the decade, Michael already stands out as a cinematic event both monumental and intimate—a celebration of genius and an exploration of myth, shadow, and humanity. Directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by John Logan, the film retraces the meteoric rise of Michael Jackson, from his early days with the Jackson 5 to his transformation into a global pop phenomenon in the 1980s. Its stated ambition is twofold: to recapture the creative electricity and stage magnetism that redefined modern popular music, while also embracing the complexities, contradictions, and wounds of a singular life. Casting Jaafar Jackson, the singer’s real-life nephew, in his film debut adds a potent layer of authenticity and risk—a performance that must honor both bloodline and legacy. Antoine Fuqua captures this tension with an eye for grandeur that never loses sight of emotion.

The project’s roots stretch back to November 2019, when Graham King secured the rights and brought in John Logan to pen the screenplay. By February 2022, Lionsgate Films had come aboard for global distribution, followed by Universal Pictures handling international markets later that year. What began as a personal vision has since grown into a major studio endeavor, its journey marked by delays—including the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike—and unrelenting anticipation. Principal photography finally began on January 22, 2024, wrapping on May 30 before a series of additional shoots in June 2025. Rumors of third-act rewrites and a potential two-part release underscored the project’s immense scale—originally over four hours long before being trimmed to around three and a half—yet Antoine Fuqua and John Logan refused to sacrifice scope for convenience. The result aims to balance operatic scale with human intimacy, creating a film that feels both mythic and immediate.

The cast reads like a living map of pop culture. Jaafar Jackson embodies Michael Jackson with uncanny physicality, while Nia Long portrays matriarch Katherine Jackson and Colman Domingo lends gravity to Joe Jackson. Rising star Juliano Krue Valdi plays the young Michael, revealing the push-and-pull between early brilliance and the pressure of family ambition. Miles Teller steps in as John Branca, the shrewd attorney managing the artist’s empire, and Laura Harrier adds an emotional through-line at the heart of the music scene. Surrounding them is a gallery of figures who shaped the pop cosmos: Kat Graham as Diana Ross, Larenz Tate as Berry Gordy, Jessica Sula as La Toya Jackson, Liv Symone as Gladys Knight, Kevin Shinick as Dick Clark, KeiLyn Durrel Jones as Bill Bray, Kendrick Sampson as Quincy Jones, and Derek Luke as Johnnie Cochran. The ensemble, cast by Kimberly Hardin, was carefully assembled to embody not just names, but eras—an intricate constellation orbiting one of music’s most luminous stars.

Behind the scenes, visual storytelling takes center stage. With Dion Beebe as cinematographer, Barbara Ling as production designer, and Marci Rodgers handling costume design, the film recreates not only the aesthetics of an era but its pulse. The goal is not nostalgia, but reanimation—to make the viewer feel the kinetic, futuristic energy that defined Michael Jackson’s artistry. The visual effects lineup reads like an Avengers team of modern cinema: Cinesite, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Folks, Rodeo FX, Rising Sun Pictures, and Lola Visual Effects, under the supervision of Louis Morin. Their task isn’t to digitally resurrect, but to translate stage energy into cinematic movement—to restore the sensation of witnessing greatness in real time.

The film’s creative team also faces the moral tightrope that comes with telling such a story. As producer Graham King explained, the mission was to “humanize but not sanitize,” to confront the controversies rather than conceal them. The screenplay includes the child abuse allegations that have long shadowed Michael Jackson’s legacy, though legal limitations prevented the direct portrayal of Jordan Chandler. Paris Jackson’s own critique—that the film is “sugar-coated” yet “something fans will love”—captures the tension between public fascination and personal truth. The challenge, as Antoine Fuqua and John Logan seem to recognize, is not to resolve this contradiction but to inhabit it—to portray the artist and the man in full, without reduction or denial.

At CinemaCon on April 10, 2024, the first footage stunned theater owners with its scope and emotion, while the teaser trailer, released on November 6, 2025, shattered records. Featuring a medley of Michael Jackson hits—Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, Beat It, Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough, and Billie Jean—it amassed 30 million views in six hours and 116.2 million within 24 hours, surpassing Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour and setting a new benchmark for musical biopics. The trailer’s reception wasn’t just a marketing coup—it reflected the world’s enduring hunger for Michael Jackson’s image and the uncanny intrigue surrounding Jaafar Jackson’s portrayal. Early viewers noted that he doesn’t imitate his uncle so much as channel him, capturing an energy more than a likeness—a feat that has fueled both admiration and anticipation.

Beyond spectacle, Michael promises a layered narrative that revisits milestones with new emotional weight: the Motown years, the solo breakthroughs, the choreographic revolutions, and the creative burnout that came with superstardom. The film’s rhythm is that of ascension and isolation—every public triumph mirrored by private sacrifice. For Antoine Fuqua, known for his kinetic intensity in films like Training Day and The Equalizer, the concert stage becomes his new battlefield, the choreography his new combat. Meanwhile, John Logan, a master dramatist of towering personalities (Gladiator, The Aviator), crafts a structure that merges myth with fragility, ensuring the man never disappears behind the music.

From an industrial standpoint, Michael is also a global event meticulously orchestrated. Produced by Lionsgate Studios and GK Films, and distributed by Lionsgate Films in the United States and Universal Pictures internationally (including France), the film will premiere in IMAX, emphasizing its sensory ambition. The release is set for April 22, 2026, in France and April 24, 2026, in the United States. During a 2025 investor call, Lionsgate chairman Adam Fogelson hinted that the studio was preparing for “more Michael soon after the first,” suggesting the possibility of a sequel—not as a franchise play, but as a continuation of a life too vast for one film to contain.

Ultimately, Michael stands as more than a movie—it is a reckoning. Fans will come for the music, eager to relive the pulse of “Beat It” and “Billie Jean” under new cinematic light. Skeptics will study how the film navigates the moral terrain. Filmmakers will analyze the precision of Dion Beebe’s camera, Barbara Ling’s period sets, and Marci Rodgers’ wardrobe artistry. And somewhere between nostalgia and confrontation, audiences may rediscover the emotional contradiction that defined Michael Jackson himself: the fusion of brilliance and fragility, performance and pain.

If Antoine Fuqua and John Logan truly deliver what they’ve promised—an honest, riveting, and epic portrayal—Michael could restore faith in the musical biopic as both spectacle and confession. Its greatest triumph may be in refusing to simplify the King of Pop, instead letting him remain what he always was: a paradoxical genius whose shadow still dances under the spotlight.

Synopsis :
MICHAEL will bring audiences a riveting and honest portrayal of the brilliant yet complicated man who became the King of Pop. The film presents his triumphs and tragedies on an epic, cinematic scale — from his human side and personal struggles to his undeniable creative genius, exemplified by his most iconic performances. As never before, audiences will experience an inside look into one of the most influential, trailblazing artists the world has ever known.

Michael
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Written by John Logan
Produced by Graham King, John Branca, John McClain
Starring Jaafar Jackson, Nia Long, Laura Harrier, Juliano Krue Valdi, Miles Teller, Colman Domingo
Cinematography : Dion Beebe
Production companies : Lionsgate Studios, GK Films
Distributed by Lionsgate Films (United States), Universal Pictures (France
Release date : April 22, 2026 (France), April 24, 2026 (United States)

Updated November 8 2025