Michael Jackson Fans Won’t Care About Michael’s ‘Full-Blown Lies’

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Anyone determined to verify the accuracy of the new Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, will find it’s a challenging task. The film portrays Jackson as almost single-handedly bringing peace to the Crips and Bloods gangs in Los Angeles, supposedly uniting them through his dancing during the “Beat It” music video shoot. Interestingly, his future-famous sister, Janet Jackson, is shown as completely absent from the family’s home life. Despite several scenes featuring Michael (played by his nephew, Jaafar Jackson) with his chimpanzee, Bubbles, the serious allegations of child sexual abuse against Jackson are never addressed.

Surprisingly, one of the strongest critics of the recent film about Michael Jackson is his own daughter, Paris Jackson. Last year, the 28-year-old singer and actress publicly called the movie dishonest and full of inaccuracies, even claiming it contained outright lies. She explained that a significant part of the film seems designed to appeal to a particular group of fans who prefer a romanticized version of her father. Additionally, Paris filed a lawsuit last month, accusing those in charge of her father’s estate of mishandling finances, acting in their own self-interest, and charging excessive fees. In the lawsuit, she specifically criticized John Branca – who is also a producer on the film – for casting Miles Teller, the most well-known actor in the movie, to play a younger version of Michael Jackson, questioning how this expensive choice would translate to ticket sales.

Most reviews of Michael criticize it for presenting information that isn’t factual, calling it unserious and lacking substance – one reviewer even said it feels more like a collection of music videos than a complete film. This raises the question: will Paris Jackson’s public distancing from the project discourage people from seeing it?

Paris Jackson’s upcoming film about her father, Michael, has strong family involvement: her brother Prince is an executive producer, her brother Bigi helped with promotion, and several of her aunts and uncles (Jermaine, LaToya, Tito, Jackie, and Marlon) are also credited as executive producers. The estate’s representatives responded to Paris’s legal challenge by claiming she doesn’t understand how the movie industry works, and called her objections a waste of time and money. Early predictions suggest the film will be a huge success, potentially earning $80 million in North America and $150 million internationally during its opening weekend. This would break the record for the highest-grossing opening weekend for a music biopic, currently held by Straight Outta Compton which earned $60.2 million in 2015.

According to a source at the studio, this film won’t sway anyone’s existing opinion of Michael Jackson. They describe it as a nostalgic celebration of his music, a real treat for longtime fans who grew up with it. The movie is expected to boost his album sales, sending them all to the top of the iTunes charts and generating a lot of excitement around his legacy, especially with recent discussions surrounding Paris Jackson.

This new approach could help offset the financial losses stemming from significant production overruns, which were caused by issues with the Jackson estate before filming even began. Directed by Antoine Fuqua (known for Training Day and Emancipation) and written by John Logan, Michael tells the story of the Thriller singer’s life and career over three decades. The film traces his rise to fame from his beginnings in Indiana in the late 1960s, through a devastating burn injury sustained during a 1984 Pepsi commercial shoot, and his subsequent recovery and return to prominence three years later. Originally, however, the movie was framed around a 1993 investigation into allegations made by Jordan Chandler, a 13-year-old who accused Jackson of sexual abuse, leading to a $23 million settlement. According to reports, the film’s final act portrayed Jackson as an innocent victim of the Chandlers, who were depicted as exploiting him for financial gain, causing him public ridicule and ultimately leading to the settlement, damaging his reputation and spirit.

As a huge movie fan, I found the story behind the Michael Jackson biopic absolutely wild. Apparently, way back when, the Jackson estate made a deal with Katherine Jackson’s son, Jermaine Jackson, forbidding anyone from showing him or his family in a movie. It’s crazy to me that this clause was somehow missed, even though the estate was being handled by really top-notch lawyers – one of them even helped Michael buy the Beatles’ song catalog for a fortune! So, when filming started on this $155 million movie and the problem of not being able to show Jermaine came to light, the director, Antoine Fuqua, the writer, John Logan, and the producer, Graham King (who did a fantastic job with Bohemian Rhapsody) were suddenly in a real bind, trying to figure out how to work around it.

Lionsgate, the studio releasing the movie, delayed its original April 2025 release date. In June, director Michael Jackson underwent 22 days of additional filming costing around $15 million—paid for by the Jackson estate—to remove all references to allegations of child sexual abuse against the singer and the resulting damage to his reputation. They also changed the ending to emphasize Jackson’s recovery from the serious head burns he sustained during a Pepsi commercial accident.

The new movie Michael has sparked controversy for leaving out accusations of child sexual abuse, even though biopics often take creative liberties with a person’s life story. One insider compared it to making a Hitler biopic and ignoring the most infamous period of his life – the years 1942 to 1946 – arguing that a significant and central conflict can’t be ignored when portraying someone’s life.

It’s common for biopics to take creative liberties with the truth or encounter opposition from the families of their subjects. For example, the Hendrix family didn’t cooperate with the 2013 film Jimi: All Is by My Side and even prevented the filmmakers from using his music. The 2018 Oscar winner Green Book faced criticism from the family of pianist Dr. Don Shirley, with his brother calling the movie a fabrication. Similarly, members of the Gucci family were unhappy with how they were depicted in Ridley Scott’s 2021 film House of Gucci; a former chairman described the portrayal as depicting them as “thugs, ignorant and insensitive.”

An Oscar-winning director known for biographical films dismisses the notion that these movies can stick strictly to the truth. He argues that no biopic – or even a documentary – is ever completely factual, because they’re all forms of entertainment. Without some kind of compelling story structure, he says, you might as well just be reading a summary.

Lionsgate is hinting at a follow-up to Michael, but they’re waiting to see how the first movie performs in its opening weekend before making a firm commitment. A message at the end of Michael suggests the story isn’t over, and despite the film originally not being planned as a two-part series, extensive reshoots and delays have given the studio a solid base for a sequel. At the film’s premiere, Lionsgate chairman Adam Fogelson confirmed there’s more story to tell and that they’re ready to move forward with a continuation if audiences show they want it.

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2026-04-24 19:55