Antoine Fuquaa directing, Jackson's nephew, Jaafar Jackson starring.

Think this will be big.

This has potential to be huge but they HAVE to address the molestation accusations and trial and it has to be a central part of the movie. That was the crux of his whole life: how the world's most celebrated entertainer with a squeaky clean public image could also be accused of the most heinous crime.

I think it'll be big but yeah they're walking through a field of landmines here. There's almost no way you can win since MJ fans are all time psycho and being too nice to him will get killed by the media.

Given that it's MJ's own nephew who's playing the main role, I expect them to downplay the molestation accusations. Or do you assume his nephew would be fine with playing a role that further tarnishes the legacy of MJ?

Too bad this couldn't make the 2024 schedule. This fall needs more hits.

Michael's nephew being cast makes me think this will be a very kind re-imagining of his life. The whole molesting kids thing will be portrayed as a misunderstanding and Michael will be shown as a victim in the subsequent trials.

I have no doubt the movie will ultimately be sympathetic to him and portray him as innocent (or at least plausibly innocent) and play up the 'he didn't have a childhood, all he was doing was trying to recreate his childhood!' angle. But the marketing has to include scenes from the trial or mentions of the accusations because otherwise it's going to look like a blatant PR puff piece and no one will take it seriously.

This movie is going to be awful unless it portrays Michael as the monster he was, which it won’t. So it will suck.

To do this right (for my favorite singer/entertainer of all time) I was hoping for a better choice than Antoine Fuqua. Go with the best choice instead of narrowing the pool of directors for...reasons.

I like Fuqua but perhaps this isn't his wheelbase.

I have a theory... this movie is the biggest chance the estate has to rehabilitate MJ's image and ensure a positive continuing legacy (aka $$$ for the estate). The PR campaign will have to be very carefully navigated as the studio and the estate try to figure out how to avoid the molestation stuff. Having a respected black director could help, the media is less likely to attack him directly whereas if they'd hired David Fincher there'd be less hesitation to ask why is he helping rehabilitate the image of a likely child molester. But with a black director they can play into the narrative that MJ was incredibly important to black American culture and the director is proud to pay homage to that, the film will be more immune to criticism as a consequence. I have no doubt that is the main angle they will go for, how he helped "transcend the race barrier", first black artist on MTV, etc. I could bet $100 that will be all over the trailers and press releases and they'll make sure to touch on that in interviews. And it's obviously true. But the whole publicity campaign will be an attempt to get away from the molestation stuff. It will be fascinating to watch.

Barrabas is spot on.

However I feel no matter what they do the absence of the paedophilia stuff will be too big an elephant to ignore. There will be op-eds about it, there will be mentions in reviews about it. It's just unavoidable even if the resurgence of his music in our lives will keep most people quiet.

A sad MJ movie would win oscars. A happy MJ movie will makes hundreds of millions. The April release date says everything about what they want to accomplish with this film. It's gonna be the type of film where MJ approaches a woman, hits on her very seductively and then she says "Oh Mike, you bad." Then he stops and says "...I'm bad" to himself and then it cuts to him in the studio making the song.

I hope this plays as a mid-credits scene: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uqM9Wn9XIbY

Lol.

Miles Teller is joining the cast (finalizing negotiations). He's expected to play an attorney.

He hasn't done a big Hollywood movie (other than to Netflix) since TGM so an interesting choice. I do think he's fairly well known enough to help this movie branch out from just MJ fans. Feel like this can do $100M+.

Globally, I can see this movie make 3-4X more overseas as MJ still has a huge global following.

Ooh this probably means the allegations and trial will be part of the film.

This will be an incredibly controversial movie because no matter how you present him someone is going to hate it, but I think it could be really massive as long as it's not awful. He does have a fascinating life story with music everyone knows. It's probably the most obvious music biopic of them all. No other star has had such a messy, eventful life. Like, the stunted childhood with a dad that hit him, the superstardom, the bizarre behaviour, molestation allegations, baby in the balcony, becoming a recluse in his massive decaying Disneyland-esque amusement park around his house. The film could basically be a remake of Citizen Kane, and that's arguably the quintessential American story of the last century.

If it's good, I could even see $250M+.

Colman Domingo is good villain casting as the dad

Majority of people know Michael Jackson was guilty, his fans in denial are a vocal minority

This is definitely going to do $500M+ global and possibly much, much more.

This will be huge. 100m OW should happen.

I hope it's good *fingers crossed* hope they get the singing & dancing right.
Michael Jackson is my fav musical artist of all-time

This will get the older people who only show up to the theater like every few years lol.

To put things into perspective:

From MJ's passing in 2009 to 2020, his estate earned $100M+ every year except 2012 (Wikipedia). Forbes recognized Jackson as the top-earning dead celebrity each year. He was also #1 again in 2023 with $115M in earnings.

I feel like this is indicative that his music legacy still resonates for him to be making so much money consistently for 14 years now.

For comparison, Bob Marley's estate 2023 earnings were reported at $16M.

I think this will top American Sniper as the highest biopic opener ever. Possibly by alot. Legs will be iffy but I still think the majority of paying customers will like the marshmallow take on the story.

I think this will top American Sniper as the highest biopic opener ever. Possibly by alot. Legs will be iffy but I still think the majority of paying customers will like the marshmallow take on the story.