Michael Jackson movie sequels plans: ‘King of Pop biopic trilogy on the cards’

Later this month, the long-awaited (and long-delayed) Michael Jackson movie biopic lands in cinemas.

Michael stars the King of Pop’s nephew Jaafar Jackson in the title role and boy has this movie chopped and changed.

Originally, the third act was going to explore the multiple child abuse allegations the late singer faced and always denied.

But once the Jackson estate’s lawyers discovered a settlement with one of Jackson’s accusers, Jordan Chandler, included a clause that he could not be depicted or mentioned in a movie, the filmmakers had to go back to the drawing board.

Michael’s release was delayed from April 2025 to October 2025 and now to this month, with 22 days of reshoots taking place last summer to film a new third act and fatten out some earlier sequences.

According to Variety's source, the new third act concludes the film in the late 1980s, when MJ was at his career peak during the Bad tour. And given the original cut for Michael was 3 hours and 30 minutes, there have been rumblings for months that the producer Graham King wants this to turn into a two-part biopic, assuming the box office is there; one that is expected to reach at least $700 million worldwide. After all, King helmed Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which took over $900 million worldwide.

Interestingly, there’s talk of more than one sequel, in which 30 per cent of unused material from the first film could be reconstituted. It’s currently unclear how the legal battles around child abuse allegations would be handled in potential future movies. Meanwhile, King reportedly told the studios involved that a sequel would focus on Jackson’s latter albums like 1991’s Dangerous and 2001’s Invincible, plus the construction of Neverland Ranch and “his love of animals”. The outlet added: “Those discussions may soon heat up”.

Michael hits UK cinemas on April 22, 2026.