Paywalled article from Bloomberg, but apparently the Jackson Estate more than doubled the salaries of Director Fuqua and Producer King, after the alterations were made in the film, to compensate for loss of potential Box Office with the overly sanitized version.

Set to become the highest grossing music bio pic and surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody in its opening weekend.

Maybe Colerman Domingo is the reason since he has been on fire with all of his projects.


https://variety.com/2026/film/news/b...xy-1236730410/

Now we need a Hitler movie that stops when he cries himself to sleep after getting turned down for art college.

MJ's fans are insane. Literally. Go read their comments on any post about this movie on Facebook. One person wrote, "After seeing this movie, I know that Michael wouldn't have hurt a fly". I so wanted to respond with "No, but I'm sure he unzipped them on several minors.

With Coleman Domingo, since I hear he's the big Box Office draw.

That was a wild claim.

I plan to see it tonight in IMAX. Yes I know he’s a very divisive entertainer in pop culture. But I still like his music.

Going to the box office and asking for the price of a child ticket takes on a whole new meaning with this film.

Well, I just got out of my showing. Single ticket, A-List Stubs, no popcorn, no money spent. It's not good. Seriously. Such hero worship, it's pretty embarrassing. I've seen Jesus biopics more critical of their subjects. I went in kind of expecting that, but still it's pretty jarring to see how fawning a treatment this is.
It hits every music biopic trope it can without showing the subject in any negative light. I mentioned Walk Hard before with the monkey, but there are so many unintentional Walk Hard callbacks here it's shocking. The movie literally begins exactly the same way, with Michael looking back on his whole life before he takes the stage. Has nobody in this production seen that movie?
Coleman Domingo isn't bad in his role, but he's under weird latex makeup that doesn't really move naturally. You know the SNL bit where Norm McDonald asks Charleston Heston a question as an Ape, and you can totally still see and hear Norm, but he looks weird and his mouth doesn't move right? It's kind of like that with Coleman. Huge mistake to not just put him in a wig. We could role with a less photorealistic portrayal of Joseph Jackson.

On the plus side, both leads are pretty good. The kid especially, he's a gifted actor. It's hard to play adult Michael, his eccentricities are so prevalent how can you separate impersonation from parody?
Still the extended performances are very good and it sounds great. The closing number of Bad is especially fun.

Overall though this is really a poor film and it's a bummer that it will do so well. Maybe it was inevitable though. There was a kid sitting next to me who was standing in front of his chair, leaning forward against the rail in the Dolby Cinema and enraptured. I get it. His music is really beloved and the musical performances are very cool to see. Everything else? Pass.

When your comments defending Michael unintentionally make people recall this guy, you’re not exactly making the point you wanted.

It’s so weird, Like the scene when Michael adopts a baby chimp. His family is a little concerned for their safety, and then it’s played off like a joke, without any real discussion of why is a grown man living in a kid’s bedroom playing Twister with a chimp? That isn’t normal.

Does the movie even address Jackson's obsession and sickness with plastic surgery, including bleaching his skin? What about his other bizarre obsession with the Elephant Man's remains? Or buying that tank to sleep in? Dude was so fucked up and weird. Yeah, he wouldn't hurt a fly.

Yes. His dad tells him "You have a big nose" once (his dad is really the root of all his problems, you see). He goes and gets a nose job after Off The Wall comes out, despite the doctor telling him "You're a good lookin' kid. You sure you want to do this?". Then about 3 more times he has a bandage on his nose, which keeps getting smaller. He tells a woman at one time about using foundation because he has vitaligo.

And I like that Latoya says the new nose looks great and that she wants to get a nose job too.

I just finished watching it tonight in IMAX. It looked and sounded amazing. Jaafar Jackson was really good playing his uncle. He has the dance moves and mannerisms down perfectly. It was pretty impressive for a first time actor. The concert and performance reenactment were all really well done. I'll say this, as an actual biopic movie, it's very incomplete. But they did get into Michael's difficult childhood that was controlled by his overbearing Dad, who was well played by Colman Domingo. One glaring omission, apparently Janet Jackson doesn't exist in this version of Michael's story. She's not seen or mentioned at all. But, LaToya is present. 😄 Michael had many issues, but he was a really great entertainer. This was probably the closest to seeing him live in concert.

‘Funniest shit I’ve read in a while. It’s odd how certain celebrities and such get a free pass for "things" but others don’t. I can’t imagine me ever seeing this movie but any memories I have of Jackson have to stay in the early 80s when he was a just a normal young man that did great pop songs. Then he turned into a deranged sicko that was addicted to plastic surgery and had an unhealthy sexual behavior problem.

Oh well.

Per Variety :

The original ending of #Michael was very different from the version released in theaters this weekend:

• Much of the original ending focused on how the child abuse allegations in 1993 impacted Jackson’s life

• One scene saw the King of Pop staring into a mirror with a sorrowful gaze as police car lights flashed behind him

• The sequence with investigators searching Neverland Ranch was among several scenes left on the cutting room floor

Read the full story on the “Michael” overhaul: https://variety.com/2026/film/news/m...ns-1236710221/

Jaafar Jackson said on the Kelly Clarkson show he watched Daniel Day Lewis, Christian Bale, and Joaquin Phoenix movies to prepare.

Does it show on screen?

Too bad they didn’t have the guts to address it and leave the ambiguity of the real life events there.

The end title card said

”The Story Continues”

Apparently Lionsgate thinks they have enough footage for a potential second movie from the report I saw.

Yes, his story does continue. But the rest is a lot less fun. Would his fans really a film about his drug addictions, worsening bizarre plastic surgeries, two sham marriages, and multiple child molestation allegations? Yes, the first has already made a ton of money, I get wanting to make a sequel (if legal permits it), but all the good stuff already happened. It would be like Wicked For Good, but way worse.

In any case, if it happens, I doubt Fuqua is actively involved.

Also, I just wanted to nominate the “Album Naming” scene as maybe the dumbest in cinema history. Michael looks at a cork board with 3 x5 cards of all the songs on the album. And a “?” For the album title. Then he moves one up : Billie Jean? Takes it down. Cut to him watching a 1950’s thriller. Then back to the board “PYT”?, takes it back down. Cut to Michael watching another 1950s thiller, then back to the board “The Lady in My Life”? What will it be called???????

I know. Like it is totally wild that we can have a person who sexually assaulted women as a president.

Kennedy or Clinton, you're not clear