Michael Opens Thursday — And It’s Already One of the Biggest Biopics Ever Made
The Michael Jackson biopic opens April 24 in IMAX. Here's the cast, the controversy, and the music videos to watch before you sit down in that theater.
The King of Pop finally gets his IMAX moment. Here’s what you need to know before you go.
Three days from now, the most anticipated music biopic in years hits theaters. Michael, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Jaafar Jackson as his late uncle, opens April 24 in IMAX and wide release — and the numbers surrounding it are already staggering before a single general-admission ticket is torn.
The film’s teaser trailer, dropped last November, racked up 116 million views in its first 24 hours. That’s more than any trailer for a musical biopic or concert film in history. For context, that’s not “music biopic record” — that’s all of them, every genre. The appetite for this film is real.
The Story the Film Is Telling
Michael traces Jackson’s journey from the discovery of his extraordinary talent as the lead of the Jackson Five through his rise as a global music icon, giving audiences a look at his life both off-stage and through some of the most iconic performances from his early solo career. The film ends at Jackson’s 1988 Wembley Stadium concert during the Bad World Tour, with a closing card reading “His story continues” — a strong signal that a sequel covering the later years is already in the works. Rotten Tomatoes
The supporting cast includes Nia Long, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Laura Harrier, Jessica Sula, Mike Myers, Miles Teller, and Colman Domingo, with Domingo playing Joe Jackson in what early buzz suggests is a career-defining performance. Wikipedia
The Casting Story Is Its Own Movie
Jaafar Jackson went viral doing Michael Jackson impressions at age 5, and now — after a two-year audition process he described as intense but “not traditional” — he’s carrying a $165–200 million production on his back in his acting debut. Early reactions from those who’ve seen it describe moments where it genuinely feels like you’re watching the real Michael Jackson move. Yahoo!
Katherine Jackson, Michael’s mother and Jaafar’s grandmother, approved of the casting, saying he “embodies” her son. Wikipedia
The Controversy You Should Know About
This film was made with the full cooperation of the Jackson Estate, and that matters to how it’s shaped. After a clause was discovered in a legal settlement, references to the 1993 child sexual abuse allegations against Michael were removed, the third act was revised, and reshoots took place in June 2025. Filmmaker Spike Lee has defended the film, saying critics are judging it for what it leaves out rather than what it contains. That debate will outlast the box office run. For film geeks, the craft question is whether the movie earns its emotional runtime at over two hours without the full complexity of the man’s story. Reviews are mixed — but nobody’s saying Jaafar Jackson doesn’t deliver. Wikipedia
The Music — Which Is the Whole Point
The soundtrack pulls from across the MJ catalog. Before you sit down Thursday, do yourself a favor and revisit the original videos. These aren’t just songs — they’re the film grammar that Fuqua is working from.
🎬 “Thriller” (the short film that changed music videos forever): https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=michael+jackson+thriller+official
🎬 “Billie Jean” (Motown 25 performance — the first moonwalk on television): https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=michael+jackson+billie+jean+motown+25
🎬 “Beat It” (the music video that broke MTV’s color barrier): https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=michael+jackson+beat+it+official
🎬 “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” (Off the Wall era, pure joy): https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=michael+jackson+dont+stop+til+you+get+enough
🎬 “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'” (live at Wembley — the film’s closing moment): https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=michael+jackson+wanna+be+startin+somethin+wembley
Bottom Line
Michael is an event film in the truest sense. Whether Antoine Fuqua has made a great film or a great spectacle is something audiences will debate. What’s not debatable: there has never been a theatrical film about Michael Jackson at this scale, and Jaafar Jackson’s performance is already generating Oscar conversation. Get to IMAX if you can. The 1988 Wembley footage alone was designed for a big screen.
Michael opens Thursday, April 24.