Will There Be a Michael Sequel? Why Part 2 Looks Complicated

Nobody knows what to make of the new Michael Jackson biopic. As fans cosplay with Thriller jackets and moonwalk down theater aisles, critics say that the new film, Michael, looks at the artist’s career with rose-colored glasses. The film, starring Jackson’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, doesn’t mention Jackson’s later legal struggles or allegations of child abuse. Michael doesn’t feature Janet Jackson at all—at the singer’s request—and the plot ends with a “His story continues” tag following his 1988 Bad Tour performance. Naturally, the film reignites questions about how to separate an artist’s work from the allegations around them, as well as whether Michael had an obligation to address the darker side of his career.

There are no easy answers to any of these questions, but the team behind Michael is rallying around the response to the film’s criticisms so far. In an interview with Deadline, director Antoine Fuqua stated that it might have been too jarring to include Jackson’s sexual abuse allegations in a movie meant to celebrate him. Not only that, but the studio is also considering including the allegations in a potential sequel. Basically, they’re saying, We’re getting to that.

“What we realized, if you start there, some people who don’t know Michael, it’s out of context,” Fuqua said. “It was important to take the audience through a process of how do you get to wherever it’s going to go in a second movie; for people to get a bigger idea of his personality and what shaped him.”

Colman Domingo, who plays Michael’s father Joe Jackson, also told Today that critics may see more of Jackson’s life in a sequel. “There’s a possibility of there being a part two, that may deal with some other things that happen afterwards,” Domingo said. “This is about the making of Michael, how he was raised, and then how he was trying to find his voice as an artist and be a solo artist. That’s what I have to say about that.”

I don’t get a strong feeling from the crowd’s reaction so far that they would be interested in a dark, courtroom drama sequel to this bright, king-making music biopic. But according to The New York Times, the allegations were actually a major part of the film before legal issues forced the filmmakers to scrap them from the movie entirely.

Apparently, a settlement from one of Jackson’s first allegations in 1993 included a clause that barred the victim from being depicted in film or television about Jackson’s life moving forward. “Neither side was allowed to do anything about publicizing or communicating what occurred, except to the extent that the family was allowed to talk to the police and testify under oath,” the lawyer who negotiated the settlement told the Times.

Michael producer Graham King also revealed in an interview on The Today Show Australia, “We had a legal issue we found out after we finished shooting the film, that the estate didn’t realize at the time… So it was a little bit of a shock.” As it turns out, that same victim wasn’t mentioned in the well-known Leaving Neverland (2019) documentary that featured interviews with other alleged victims either.

So, after learning about the legal troubles potentially coming their way, Lionsgate reportedly took on $50 million worth of reshoots and scrapped the allegations from the film entirely. Now, the studio is attempting to frame the switch-up as potential grounds for a second movie. “The unusual circumstances gave us the opportunity to shoot more material for what is effectively a Part 1—the making of a king—while preserving the opportunity to tell more story in a subsequent film or films,” a Lionsgate spokesman told The New York Times. It’s a glass half full approach—and it just might work out for Lionsgate.

The Michael movie ends with Michael Jackson’s 1988 Bad Tour.

Of course, there’s also much more of Jackson’s life and music to explore outside of the allegations. Following Bad, 1991’s Dangerous included “Black or White,” “Jam,” and “Remember the Time.” Jackson then performed at the Super Bowl XXVII halftime show in Pasadena, California in 1993. Plus, his 1995 hit “You Are Not Alone” is the first song to ever debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Jackson’s tenth studio album, Invincible, was the most expensive album of all time when it released in 2001, and he was planning what would have been one of the most lucrative tours of all time in 2009, This Is It, right until his death just three weeks before the first show.

It also helps that Michael is performing exceptionally well at the box office. Variety reported the film was an “instant sensation,” opening with $97 million domestically and $217 million globally in its first weekend. It’s the second-biggest debut of the year so far, just behind The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

So, even though the film was never intended to be broken up into multiple parts, Lionsgate is now seriously considering greenlighting another film about Jackson’s life post-Bad. The box office earnings may convince them even if it seems impossible. But how much the film will actually explore Jackson’s allegations is another question entirely.

There’s no official word yet from Lionsgate. According to Fuqua, however, he’s still very interested in returning to direct the sequel—despite how difficult the rewrites and reshoots made finishing Michael in the first place. “I would like to, it’s just about scheduling,” the director told Deadline. “It would kill me if somebody else did it.”