PG-13 | 2h 7m | Drama, Biography, Music | 2026
Easily one of the most eagerly anticipated movies of this decade, the Michael Jackson biopic “Michael” has finally arrived. Showing up nearly 15 years after the legendary singer died under mysterious circumstances, the movie confirms what many skeptics had suspected since it began development in 2019.
“Michael” was originally conceived and produced as a “cradle to grave” affair, but it wound up strategically truncated. The turbulent times of Michael and his brothers in the Jackson Five at the hands of their father, Joseph (Colman Domingo), is depicted faithfully. The remainder of his life is mostly positive, yet decidedly incomplete. This isn’t necessarily a net negative.
In January 2025, it was reported that the third act of the film would be reshot; the movie couldn’t legally depict Jordan Chandler, who alleged that Michael sexually abused him in 1993.
Starting in March, the reshoots commenced and continued into July. As a result, the budget reportedly ballooned up to $200 million. The rewritten sequences added a new ending costing roughly $50 million that, for contractual reasons, was funded by the Jackson estate.
The original version was previously scheduled for release on April 18, 2025, and was moved to October 3, 2025. Variety reported that 30 percent of the material from the film’s original three-and-a-half-hour cut could be reused in a potential future film.
The Good News
The casting of the title character here was crucial. Along with Elvis Presley (Michael’s one-time father-in-law), Michael Jackson “tribute” singers number in the thousands. All of them would give their eyeteeth and more to land a part in this movie.
After an exhaustive audition process involving 200 prospective candidates, the producers (which include five of Michael’s siblings and his eldest son, Prince) decided to cast Michael’s nephew Jaafar (Jermaine Jackson’s son) as one of the two title characters. It was the smartest move they could have made.
With era-appropriate hair and makeup augmentation, Jaafar thoroughly embodies his uncle and delivers a near-flawless performance. He nails the speaking and singing voices and the dance moves to a T. If Jaafar ever wants to hit the road leading a Michael tribute act, he will clean up. He’s the best part of this film, something that won’t be lost on the target audience.
Playing Michael as a child, Juliano Valdi is equally as impressive. He’s only in the movie for the first 25 minutes, but he steals every scene he’s in, even those opposite the formidable Domingo.
Domingo’s turn as Joseph marks an Oscar-caliber career high for him. Cold, calculating, and utterly without quarter regarding possible harm to his own offspring, Joseph is the ultimate stage father from the netherworld. The green contact lenses Domingo wears lends his performance an additional layer of menace and dread that’s thoroughly bone chilling.
The Masses Will Be Pleased
For the masses and the MJ faithful, “Michael” will be received well—not so much because of what it includes, but what it omits.
After the overwhelming success of the “Thriller” album, Joseph knew deep down that few people were interested in seeing the Jacksons perform live unless Michael was at center stage. Apprehensive about participating in a worldwide tour, Michael eventually caved to Joseph’s pressure, something he quickly regretted.
If you take a look at the list of songs performed on the 1984 “Victory” tour, you’ll see the songs performed included four Jermaine tunes, a short Jackson Five medley, and the remainder comprising Michael’s solo hits. Joseph failed to recognize that Michael was lost to him forever. Preying on him one last time only precipitated Michael’s permanent separation from the group.
Pure Informed Conjecture
Given the original 210-minute cut, the pricey reshoots, and the unsavory details of Michael’s final 20 years, producing a sequel for this movie is beyond problematic on multiple levels.
While he released three more successful albums between 1991 and 2001 (“Dangerous,” “HIStory,” and “Invincible”), Michael’s well-chronicled personal life at the same time came under microscopic scrutiny. Allegations of ill-advised, if not outright illegal behavior on his part began to mount to the point where he made undisclosed monetary out-of-court settlements to make it all go away.
In its own way, the two-part 236-minute HBO documentary “Leaving Neverland” (2019) serves as an unintended prequel-sequel to “Michael.” So damning is the content of this doc, the Jackson estate has made watching it a near impossibility, unless you live in Denmark or Australia where it’s available on demand. HBO removed it from its site. Good luck trying to buy a hard copy DVD on Amazon or eBay.
For the record, I watched the HBO documentary on the day it was first released and found it thoroughly legitimate and believable.
The producers and filmmakers here kick the can down the road by including an end title card reading “His Story Continues.” It’s hard to fathom how a truthful live-action sequel can be made without alienating the majority of Michael’s base, many of whom don’t believe he was guilty of any charges levied against him.
Should you see it? On its own merits, “Michael” is very good, but you wouldn’t know it by the current Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 39 percent. Adversely, the audience score is 95 percent. I’m mostly siding with audiences on this one.
My only big beef with the movie is that here, the only female Jackson sibling is La Toya. Older sister Rebbie and youngest child Janet don’t exist. Everything else is historically accurate, and the music, performances, production values, and especially the efforts of the 50-plus hair and makeup team are stupendous.
If you choose to watch the movie, see it on the biggest possible screen you can find. It will be worth every penny.
‘Michael’
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Jaafar Jackson, Juliano Valdi, Colman Domingo, Nia Long
Running Time: 2 hours, 7 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Release Date: April 24, 2026
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
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