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It’s happening again!
After a handful of attempts over the past three decades on the television side of things, the life of Michael Jackson — known worldwide to millions as the undisputed King Of Pop — will officially be immortalized for Hollywood on the big screen. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill TV movie either; Lionsgate will be distributing the film in theaters, with Training Day and The Equalizer series’ own Antoine Fuqua in the director’s chair. Rounding out the production side so far includes Oscar-winning producer Graham King (The Departed), a script written by John Logan (Gladiator) and a lead star already to play MJ in the form of his own nephew, Jaafar Jackson.
Spot-on looks aside — good looks, genetics! — Jermaine’s 27-year-old son is proving to be the perfect fit based on rehearsal clips currently floating around.
The Michael Jackson biopic will be released on April 18, 2025 starring Michael’s nephew Jaafar Jackson. pic.twitter.com/iqUffrMe2a
— Pop Base (@PopBase) January 11, 2024
| The filming of the Michael Jackson biopic begins on January 22nd! #MichaelJacksonBiopic pic.twitter.com/gspflYxeG5
— Victor (@Northen93) January 17, 2024
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Although this won’t be the first time MJ’s life has been told on film, it will hold the ranks as the most full-circle telling of his story to date. While ABC’s groundbreaking TV movie, The Jacksons: An American Dream, made for must-watch television back in 1992, the story unfortunately stops while he’s still in the peak of his superstardom and just before the controversy that altered his career forever.
Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story aired on VH1 in 2004, but it was clear from the abysmal casting of Flex Alexander that it was made with sole efforts to market off the very public real-life trial that began six months after this straight-to-cable release.
More recently, Lifetime took a go at it back in 2017 by releasing Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland. However, that film was told from the perspective of personal bodyguard Bill Whitfield, played by The Wire‘s Chad L. Coleman, and focused solely on the last years of MJ’s life as told in Whitfield’s 2014 memoir, Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days.
With all that said, Michael has the potential to right all wrongs made in previous projects and ultimately tell the eternal King Of Pop’s full story in all of its glory.
As we await the release of Michael, Lionsgate’s upcoming Antoine Fuqua-directed biopic on the late Michael Jackson arriving in theaters on April 18, 2025, take a look below at a few things we absolutely need for them to get right. Let us know if you agreee-hee:
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