You know something's gone sideways when a director has four hours of footage—including 90 minutes of concert sequences—and still needs to go back for more. That's exactly where Antoine Fuqua finds himself with “Michael,” the long-gestating Michael Jackson biopic that Lionsgate just pushed to April 24, 2026.
The delay shouldn't surprise anyone who's been watching this project stumble through development hell. What started as one film has now morphed into two, thanks to a combination of legal roadblocks and what the studio diplomatically calls “expansion efforts.” Translation: they shot themselves into a corner and had to reshoot their way out.
The trouble stems from something Hollywood rarely wants to acknowledge—the messy reality behind the mythology. A legal settlement with one of Jackson's accusers explicitly bars his depiction in any dramatization, which apparently left Fuqua's original third act dead in the water. The solution? Scrap that ending entirely and write a whole new script for what's now becoming a second film.
This isn't your typical patch-up job either. Fuqua just wrapped 22 days of reshoots, and word is he'll need another round this fall for the sequel that doesn't even have a release date yet—though 2027 seems likely. Meanwhile, his planned Hannibal the Conqueror film with Denzel Washington sits on Netflix's shelf, waiting for this Jackson odyssey to finally reach theaters.
What's particularly telling is the radio silence from Lionsgate's marketing department. Not a single frame was shown at CinemaCon this year—odd behavior for a $155 million investment, even before counting the reshoot budget. When studios go dark like this, it usually means they're still figuring out what movie they actually made.
The casting feels solid enough on paper. Jaafar Jackson, Michael's nephew, takes on the King of Pop role, supported by Colman Domingo, Nia Long, and Miles Teller. But good casting can't solve structural problems, and this project seems to have plenty of those. The Jackson Estate's involvement adds another layer of complexity—they've got their own behind-the-scenes drama to manage while trying to protect the family legacy.
Fuqua's track record suggests he can handle complicated subjects. The Equalizer films proved he knows action, and Training Day showed his dramatic chops. But biographical filmmaking is different territory, especially when you're dealing with a figure as polarizing and legally entangled as Jackson. The fact that principal photography wrapped back in May 2024 and they're still reshoting suggests the original vision didn't quite land.
The two-film approach might actually work in their favor, assuming they can nail the storytelling. Jackson's life certainly contains enough material for multiple movies—the Jackson 5 years, the solo breakthrough, the controversies, the artistic evolution. But splitting a story after you've already shot it feels more like damage control than creative ambition.
This whole saga reflects a broader Hollywood problem: the tendency to greenlight expensive projects before the script is bulletproof. With $155 million on the line, Lionsgate can't afford to get this wrong. But the constant delays and reshoots suggest they're learning expensive lessons in real time.
Whether “Michael” ultimately justifies its troubled production remains to be seen. April 2026 gives Fuqua plenty of runway to get it right, assuming he can solve the fundamental storytelling challenges that got him into this mess. The King of Pop deserves better than a rushed job—but at some point, you have to stop reshoting and start trusting your instincts.
