The much anticipated music biopic for the King of Pop is released 24th April 2026! Going to be HUGE. I can see this being the biggest biopic of all time (providing the reviews are on it's side - I feel biopics rely heavily on reviews, but this is about Michael Jackson so not sure the reviews will matter as much...)

Michael is played by Jaafar Jackson who is one of Michael's nephews!

Universal are expecting huge things and I'm talking over $1bn at the box office (which would in turn make it the biggest biopic of all time - Oppenheimer is currently the biggest at $975m & Bohemian Rhapsody is next with $910m) so I suspect you will be seeing promotion for this absolutely everywhere.

Omfg thst title was me first ever BJ username!!!!

Edited November 6, 2025Nov 6 by BooYouWhorelock

I mean it looks very nice and all, but I can't really not see this as a little awkward, especially so with the legal cases ongoing, the news of reshoots, pushback and the criticism from his own daughter. I can't see how they can honestly tell an effective story here when there was so much about him we'll likely never know and they legally cannot show as the Jackson Estate's involved.

I'm sure it will be big and the discourse will keep it going for months, but I'm not really that interested. But honestly my main reason for that isn't even the subject (art from artist etc.) it's more that I'm sure it will be the Bohemian Rhapsody style typical, generic, crowd friendly music biopic which I just find so predictable and unexciting.

Most viewed biopic trailer ever. Already looking good numbers wise

I went to see this on Sunday and fairly enjoyed it, despite it being relatively superficial. There's more that could've been explored but I guess you can only fit so much of someone's life into two hours lol. The freaky thing was I did feel like I was watching Michael and his family.

Only 2nd weekend and its close to hitting half a billion! Hasn't even opened in Japan yet where 21% ticket sales of This Is Us movie came from Japan alone so should be a big opening there.

Looking possible to join the billion club

Fantastic numbers in its second weekend in the US.

I wasn't planning to see this but ended up tagging along with my brother who is a die-hard fan of MJ's music. I can see why his catalogue is thriving right now but also get the critic responses, as I too found the storytelling mostly generic and toothless. I understand the original vision was impacted by a clause but still. The most jarring aspects for me were some of the time jumps and also the complete erasure of Janet Jackson. Again, I get she apparently has a sour relationship with MJ's estate, but it was really taking me out of the scenes in their familial home. It wouldn't have been such an issue if the childhood years were solely focusing on the Jackson 5 members but... LaToya had plenty of screen time! The ending was so abrupt but makes a bit more sense if a sequel covering the rest of the Bad era onwards is in the works.

On a positive note - I get the hype behind MJ artistically, as an important figure for music, video, dance, fashion and of course breaking down barriers racially, so I enjoyed the musical numbers and scenes observing the creative process of such a perfectionist; I would've appreciated more of the latter. The boy who played young Michael was a little star and Jaafar did a good job stepping into his uncle's shoes as an adult too. Nia Long was also an enjoyable, grounded presence for me as MJ's mum in amongst the chaos of superstardom and a large family unit.

I too wonder if this could cross $1BN worldwide?! A path doesn't seem entirely out of reach with markets like Japan and South Korea still yet to open for it. They uplifted Bohemian Rhapsody by a couple of hundred million dollars and this is surely going to be even bigger. An intriguing one to watch from a numbers perspective.