The Michael Jackson biopic is not coming out this year.
In 2026? Maybe
What’s wrong? Apparently news of this mess broke on a Lionsgate earnings call today. A number of outlets reported it.
There’s a four hour cut of scenes not edited together, these reports say. But there’s no movie because no one involved can agree on what it’s about.
I’m not surprised. All the reasons the movie isn’t working out are also the ones why “MJ The Musical” is a hit on Broadway. “MJ” stops after “Thriller” and “Bad” are released. It tells the Michael Jackson story right up to the point where weirdness set in.
After “Bad,” the Michael Jackson saga is about molestation accusations, pay offs and settlements, bizarre relationships, and a trial that foreshadowed Michael’s death.
Does anyone want to see of all that? How could it be explained in a positive way? Answer: it can’t.
Starting in 1993, Michael’s life lurched into the bizarre world of Neverland, children staying overnight, in his bed. Then comes the Jordan Chandler scandal, which results in a settlement of $15 to $20 million. Michael starts changing managers, lawyers, gets ripped off by a lot of greedy people. He also begins leveraging the Beatles catalog to stay afloat financially.
“MJ” is a celebration of Michael, telling the Jackson story and how it led to Michael working with Quincy Jones and their outsized success with three solo albums. That’s the same place the movie should end. Going beyond that barrier, there’s no upside. It’s dark, twisted, and there’s no way out. Michael becoming addicted to drugs. His bizarre relationships with Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando’s family. It just gets worse and worse.
Lionsgate says they’re considering two movies. That’s a mistake. The second one would be brutal, and not favorable to Michael. No one asked me, but they should make one great concert movie and leave it at that. End it in 1990 with Michael on top of the world. What happened next was deeply tragic, and to tell it truthfully means undermining the music.
When the biopic was announced, an insider insisted to me that they were going to tell the “whole story” warts and all. I was astonished. Would there really be discussion of how the children were acquired, Debbie Rowe, Lisa Marie, hanging the baby out the window, treatments for vitiligo, and so on?
I think by now the Estate sees there’s no way to do it without Michael coming off very badly. That would ruin the Estate’s successes so far with the catalog and the Broadway show. Michael’s legacy would be irreparably tarnished. And the phone call from the “killer” would be coming from inside the house.
