The Michael Jackson Biopic Is Estate-Approved

And just like that, Jaafar Jackson is one step closer to moonwalking in his uncle’s shoes. Michael Jackson’s real-life nephew stars in the first teaser trailer for Michael, Antoine Fuqua’s biopic about the king of pop, out April 26, 2026, after the estate’s legal issues led to reshoots. The minute-long preview, which features the songs “Thriller” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” opens with Kendrick Sampson’s Quincy Jones in a session with MJ. Jones’s lines double as a message to fans who have been waiting for this film since its development was first announced in 2019: “I know you’ve been waiting a long time for this,” he says. “The tracks are made, the songs are ready. Let’s take it from the top.”

Originally set to come out in the spring of 2025, the film reportedly had to reshoot its entire third act after Jackson’s estate overlooked the fact that they cannot legally depict the child-molestation allegations leveled by the Chandler family in 1993. (The Chandlers signed a settlement agreement that prohibits the dramatization of their story.) According to Puck’s Matt Belloni, the initial version of the script depicted the Chandlers as “money-grubbing.” There were later reports that Michael was considering giving itself more time by splitting into two films, though there was no official word on a potential part two when Lionsgate shared the November 6 teaser. “The film tells the story of Michael Jackson’s life beyond the music, tracing his journey from the discovery of his extraordinary talent as the lead of the Jackson Five, to the visionary artist whose creative ambition fueled a relentless pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world,” the trailer description reads. “Highlighting both his life off-stage and some of the most iconic performances from his early solo career, the film gives audiences a front-row seat to Michael Jackson as never before. This is where his story begins.”

It remains unclear to what extent the film will delve into the abuse allegations made against Jackson during his life or in HBO’s 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland, decried by the Jackson family as a “public lynching.” Colman Domingo, who plays Michael’s father in the film, told People in September that Michael’s real-life children Paris and Prince were “very much in support of” the film. But in a series of Instagram Stories posted September 3, Paris pushed back against the idea that she had been “helpful” on set of a movie she had “zero percent involvement in.” “I read one of the first drafts of the script and gave my notes about what was dishonest/didn’t sit right with me and when they didn’t address it I moved on with my life. Not my monkeys not my circus. God bless and god speed.” In a subsequent video, she added that she hadn’t spoken on the film up until that point because “a big section” of it “panders to a very specific section of my dad’s fandom that still lives in the fantasy, and they’re gonna be happy with it.”