The arrival in theaters of Michael, the new biopic about Michael JacksonThe film has become one of the cinematic phenomena of the year. Directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring his nephew Jaafar Jackson, the feature film has not only filled theaters worldwide but has also sparked intense debate about how the life of the King of Pop is portrayed.
While millions of viewers enjoy on the big screen The show featured recreations of concerts, iconic choreographies, and hits like Billie Jean and Smooth Criminal.Some critics and audiences question the script's decisions: the film completely avoids the accusations of child sexual abuse that marked the artist's later years and stops in 1988, at the height of his career.
A record-breaking opening for a musical biopic
Since its world premiere, Michael has shattered box office records for the biographical genreIn its opening weekend globally, the film grossed approximately $217 million, easily surpassing the debut of [previous film title]. Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic about Queen and Freddie Mercury that was considered until now the absolute benchmark of the format.
In comparative terms, the film about Jackson has left behind the $124 million with which Bohemian Rhapsody started in 2018 and has also surpassed the $180 million worldwide opening of Oppenheimer In 2024, another key title in recent biographical cinema, albeit with a very different theme, was released. With these initial figures, Michael's opening weekend stands as the best global opening weekend in history for a biographical film, musical or otherwise.
Adam Fogelson, president of Lionsgate, the film's distributor in the United States, has emphasized that Its success is based on an extremely broad audience.According to the study, the film is performing well across all age groups and audience profiles. After the first screenings, there have been numerous scenes of fans singing and applauding following the musical numbers, something particularly noticeable in Europe during weekend screenings.
This new milestone also comes in a context where Hollywood has turned the musical biopics in a near-sure betIn the last decade, the lives of Freddie Mercury, Elton John, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley, and Amy Winehouse have been portrayed on the big screen, consolidating a subgenre that blends nostalgia, a powerful musical catalog, and a strong international appeal.
Cast, focus and premiere in Spain and Europe
Michael was launched in Spain on April 22nd, with a campaign heavily focused on Jaafar Jackson's physical and gestural resemblance to his uncleThe actor, son of Jermaine Jackson, has been the main promotional draw and, according to many reviews, one of the pillars that support the film even for the most skeptical viewers.
Alongside Jaafar, the cast includes Colman Domingo as Joe JacksonThe demanding father and manager of the clan, and Nia Long in the role of Katherine Jackson, the artist's mother and main protector. Miles Teller plays lawyer John Branca, a key figure in managing Michael Jackson's legacy, while Kat Graham was slated to play Diana Ross, although her participation was ultimately dropped due to legal issues.
The plot revolves around Michael's early years in Gary, Indiana, his breakthrough at Motown with the Jackson 5 and his leap into a solo career, culminating in the era of Thriller y poolThe film stops in 1988, just after the success of the Bad World Tour, and does not go into the turbulent nineties and two thousand, which included legal accusations, much-discussed physical changes and his family life with two marriages and three children.
In Spain and the rest of Europe, the film has clearly been marketed as a large-format musical showwith special emphasis on the acoustics of the venues and the recreation of iconic concerts and music videos. Pre-sales, boosted by the release of the first trailer months earlier, showed strong interest from longtime fans, but also from a younger generation who only knew Jackson through streaming platforms and social media.
A colossal production and a business worth hundreds of millions
Beyond his artistic dimension, Michael is one of the most ambitious and expensive projects in the history of biographical cinemaThe production budget is around $200 million, a figure that skyrocketed after having to remake part of the film for legal reasons related to a confidentiality agreement from the nineties.
The film initially had a cut of more than three and a half hours that included scenes related to the 1993 police raid on Neverland Ranch and the child sexual abuse allegations made by Jordan Chandler. However, a review of an out-of-court settlement signed in 1994 revealed a clause prohibiting him from being portrayed or even mentioned in any dramatization of Jackson's life. This rendered an entire section of the film unusable.
The Michael Jackson estate, which acts as a co-investor and co-producer, then approved 22 additional days of filming to restructure the staging, reorient the story towards the years of greatest musical success and rewrite the ending around 1988. These re-recordings, according to various estimates, added between 25 and 50 million dollars to the total cost of the production.
With such an investment, the calculations from the studies are clear: The film would have to gross over $500 million worldwide to start becoming profitable.Lionsgate aims to approach $700 million by combining theatrical releases, streaming, and other channels. Only Bohemian Rhapsody has crossed that threshold within the genre so far.
For Jackson's legacy, the stakes go far beyond direct box office revenue. In addition to the initial $10 million or so from the co-production and the transfer of music rights, The assets controlled by the executors could pocket close to 25% of the profits If the film performs as expected. And even if it doesn't, the impact on record sales, the publishing catalog, the Las Vegas residency, and the Broadway and other stage musicals could translate into tens or hundreds of millions more in the coming years.
Michael Jackson's legacy: between debts and a money-making machine
At the time of the singer's death, in June 2009, Jackson's finances were on the verge of collapseDespite the enormous value of his assets (his own and others' music catalogs, properties, image rights), he was carrying debts estimated at at least $450 million, including loans and advances associated with a tour he could no longer undertake.
Following his death, a small team, including John Branca – the executor of his estate – manager Frank DiLeo, and representatives from the promoter AEG Live, met to devise a strategy aimed at Maximize revenue from Jackson's assetsFrom that plan came the idea of ​​turning the recordings of the tour rehearsals he was preparing before he died into a documentary, a project that led to Michael Jackson's This Is It.
The documentary, released in October 2009, grossed over $265 million at the worldwide box office and generated another $100 million in DVD, soundtrack, and merchandising sales. For the legacy, it brought in approximately $200 million in revenue. It marked the beginning of the most lucrative period in Michael Jackson's history, now without him alive.
Since then, the performers have been selling off key assets—such as Neverland Ranch, the 4.000-song ATV catalog, and half of the rights to their own repertoire to Sony—while pushing forward with new releases, shows, and related merchandise. Forbes magazine estimates that, since 2009, The legacy has generated more than $3.500 billion, placing Jackson as the highest-earning deceased celebrity in 13 of the last 16 years.
Not all of that money has reached the family: a significant portion has gone toward paying taxes, settling the artist's accumulated debts, and dealing with countless lawsuits related to the 2002 will and the distribution of his fortune. Tensions between the executors, Jackson's mother, and his three children have become a constant backdrop, extending to Michael's financing and creative control.
Division within the Jackson family and notable absences
The Jackson family has played a central role in the making of the film, but Not all members share the same enthusiasmLa Toya, Jackie, Jermaine and Marlon Jackson have been especially visible on the red carpets and at premieres, having supported both the project and Jaafar's performance.
According to producer Graham King, Michael's eldest son, Prince Jackson, He was present almost daily on set. He is also listed as an executive producer. His brother Bigi (formerly known as Blanket) has also supported the release by attending premieres such as the one in Berlin, where thousands of the singer's fans gathered.
The case of Paris Jackson, however, is very different. The artist's daughter has been one of the most critical voices regarding the biopic. She herself has explained that He read one of the early drafts of the script and sent feedback He criticized passages he considered inaccurate or dishonest, but, seeing no subsequent changes, decided to distance himself from the project. On social media, he has reiterated that, in his opinion, it is a Hollywood production, controlled and full of omissions, which many fans will enjoy but does not reflect the true complexity of his father.
Furthermore, Paris maintains a lawsuit against the executors of the estate, whom he accuses of making too risky an investment with the film and of having personally benefited from very high fees. The dispute even includes the way they themselves are represented in the film through well-known actors, such as Miles Teller himself in the role of John Branca.
Another notable absence in Michael is that of Janet Jackson, the younger sister and another of the great figures of world popAlthough his career exploded precisely during the period covered by the film, with albums like Control y Rhythm Nation 1814, his name isn't even mentioned on screen.
La Toya Jackson has explained that Janet was offered the opportunity to participate or to be represented. in the story, but she politely declined the offer. According to reports in the American press, Janet was reportedly upset after a private screening before the premiere, to the point of calling her brother Jermaine to express her dissatisfaction with the film's approach.
Mixed reviews: a hit with the public, skepticism among critics
From a critical standpoint, Michael's reception has been anything but unanimous. Although The general public is giving the film a very positive review -Platforms like Rotten Tomatoes reflect a huge difference between audience scores and those of the specialized press-, many critics point out that we are facing an excessively kind and controlled vision of Jackson's figure.
Among the harshest reviews, the idea is repeated that The film works like a huge money-making machine for the singer's legacy, rather than as a deep and nuanced portrait. Some media outlets have even described it as a cynical product, a made-for-TV story, or a stylized postcard that only scratches the surface of an extremely complex character.
Other analysts, however, adopt a more nuanced stance: they consider that, as A classic-style biography focused on music and the rise to stardomThe film more than delivers, especially for those who grew up with his albums and music videos. This group particularly appreciates Jaafar Jackson's work, the visual recreation of the tours and music videos, and the use of the artist's original vocals in the musical numbers.
The great fracture lies, almost always, in what is left unsaid. The fact that There is no direct reference to the child sexual abuse allegations.neither to the legal proceedings nor to the documentary Leaving Neverland This has led some British and American newspapers to speak of a near-fatal credibility problem. Others believe that, by omitting that part of the story, the film avoids precisely approaching the humanity of the character, with all his strengths and weaknesses.
The controversy over what is left out: raids, agreements, and legal censorship
One of the most discussed chapters surrounding Michael has to do with the process of writing, filming and subsequent cutting of the third actAntoine Fuqua has acknowledged that the initial version began with the 1993 police raid on Neverland, where Jackson was photographed naked by investigators looking for evidence to support the accusations of Jordan Chandler, a 13-year-old boy.
That approach would have allowed for a direct connection The years of immense fame followed by the public collapse of his reputationHowever, the aforementioned clause in the out-of-court settlement with the Chandler family, which prohibited their portrayal or mention in a film, forced the filmmakers to reshoot that entire section. The result is a film that concludes at the climax of Bad and omits not only the accusations from the 1990s, but also the rest of his career up to 2009.
Specialized media outlets such as Variety and Puck have detailed that the original script included sequences with Police lights reflected in the mirror as the singer looked at himself and the arrival of investigators at Neverland. All those scenes have been shelved, and the new filming has focused on reinforcing the celebratory musical tone and delving deeper into Michael's relationship with his father and with his own artistic image.
This reorientation hasn't convinced everyone. Critics and pop culture experts point out that, by deliberately omitting the darkest episodes, The film becomes a kind of official account of the family and its legacy.where the rough edges are smoothed and the conflicts are shifted off-screen. Some compare the maneuver to what happened in Bohemian Rhapsody, where certain aspects of Freddie Mercury's private life were addressed in a very biased way.
Dan Reed himself, the director of the documentary Leaving NeverlandShe has once again weighed in on the debate, equating the seriousness of the accusations against Jackson with other recent cases of abuse committed by powerful figures. Her statements have further fueled the controversy at a time when the biopic is topping the international box office.
Will there be a sequel? The unfinished story of the nineties and two thousand
One of the topics that has generated the most comments among European viewers is the possibility of Michael having a sequelThe film itself seems to suggest it: just before the end credits, the phrase "His story continues" appears on screen, a kind of wink that many have interpreted as a covert confirmation of a sequel already in development.
Lionsgate, for now, remains cautious. The studio has indicated that There is still no official announcement of a second installmentHowever, they acknowledge that the creative team is actively working to prepare the option to continue the story should the first installment prove commercially successful. Producer Graham King added that approximately 30% of the footage shot but discarded could be reused for future films.
If the project were to move forward, the hypothetical sequel would have plenty of ground to cover: The Dangerous and HIStory tours remain to be narrated., the albums Dangerous, HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I e InvincibleThe final move to Neverland, marriages, the role of fatherhood, the singer's physical evolution, and his intense relationship with the media.
The big question is how addressing the sexual abuse allegations and the multiple legal battles without running into the limitations imposed by the confidentiality agreements Jackson signed during his lifetime. Variety notes that, even if the contractual restrictions are waived, the creative team would have to decide whether to maintain its current approach of avoiding any direct reference to the allegations or whether to take the risk of addressing them head-on.
For now, the success of the first film and the particularly strong response in international markets, including Europe, reinforce the idea that The character continues to generate massive interest among several generationsThis, in the eyes of the studios, makes a possible sequel a tempting, albeit delicate, option.
With Michael, Hollywood has launched one of the most ambitious musical biopics ever made, a blockbuster that combines box office records, legal battles, enormous financial interests, and a family divided over how to tell the story of its most famous member. The result is a film that thrills audiences with its musical spectacle and the performance of its lead actor, but which also reopens old wounds, leaves major questions unanswered, and demonstrates that Michael Jackson's legacy remains, in equal parts, a cultural phenomenon and a territory in constant dispute..
