Lionsgate\u2019s \u201cMichael\u201d is on track to unseat \u201cStraight Outta Compton\u201d as the king of musical biopics. <\/p>\n
Early returns suggest the Antoine Fuqua<\/a>-directed film will surpass the $60-million opening weekend box office record set by the N.W.A biopic in 2015, with the studio expecting an opening that could reach $70 million.<\/p>\n \u201cMichael Jackson is one of the most influential artists in human history. His impact on music, fashion, dance, film and business has withstood the test of time,\u201d said Adam Fogelson, the chair of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group. <\/p>\n \u201cAll of those things together seem to have created a profound response from audiences of all ages,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cMichael,\u201d starring the legendary pop star\u2019s nephew Jaafar Jackson, hits 3,900 screens nationwide on Friday. <\/p>\n The film marks the first time the story of Michael Jackson\u2019s life and career are back in movie theaters since 2009\u2019s \u201cThis Is It.\u201d<\/a> That posthumous documentary followed the rehearsals for his London residency, which was canceled after he died, just 18 days before the first of 50 scheduled shows<\/a>. <\/p>\n That film remains the highest-grossing documentary of all time with nearly $270 million in global ticket sales. <\/p>\n The stakes may be higher for \u201cMichael,\u201d not just because of its roughly $200-million cost, but also its circuitous journey to the big screen.<\/p>\n Early development on the motion picture began in 2019, but frequent changes \u2014 both in the storyline and production \u2014 forced delays. The original idea was to encapsulate Jackson\u2019s life from childhood fame with the Jackson 5<\/a> to his solo commercial peak during the <\/a>\u2019<\/a>80s<\/a> and end with the child sex abuse allegations<\/a> he faced in 1993.<\/p>\n That version of the film was well underway when the production was forced to go back to the drawing board due to a legal issue. The Jackson estate<\/a>, which is in support of the project, reportedly discovered the early draft of \u201cMichael\u201d violated a $15-million settlement with the accuser<\/a> in that case. Part of the agreement stipulated that the alleged victim would never be pictured or mentioned in a dramatization of Jackson\u2019s life.<\/p>\n Production reconvened for 22 additional days and the Jackson estate<\/a> took on tens of millions of dollars in additional reshoot costs.<\/p>\n The current version of \u201cMichael,\u201d hitting theaters this weekend, is set between the 1960s and 1988. It closely follows the controlling relationship between Jackson and his father, Joe Jackson, played by Colman Domingo, and tracks the king of pop\u2019s peak stardom. Janet Jackson<\/a> is notably absent from the storyline. <\/p>\n Depending on how the movie performs, there are plans for a potential sequel. The follow-up would tell the second half of Jackson\u2019s career, where much of the scrapped footage could be used. Lionsgate has done advanced work to ensure that a significant amount of the previously captured footage could be included.<\/p>\n So far, the movie is receiving mixed reviews. As of Friday morning, the critic\u2019s consensus on Rotten Tomatoes <\/a>was less than favorable, with a score of 40%. But Lionsgate remains confident the film will resonate positively with average moviegoers and Jackson fans, both domestically and globally.<\/p>\n \u201cThe audiences that are now starting to watch the movie in early previews have been euphoric,\u201d Fogelson said. \u201cAudiences are speaking loudly and clearly about how much they appreciate the final product.\u201d<\/p>\n Even outside of theaters, Jackson\u2019s story continues to find success. \u201cMJ,\u201d<\/a> the jukebox musical based on his life, is in its fourth year on Broadway and has had both national and international showings. Michael Jackon\u2019s estate has also collaborated with Cirque du Soleil<\/a> for several acrobatic productions since 2011. The \u201cMichael Jackson ONE\u201d show, which first premiered in 2013, recently extended its run on the Las Vegas Strip until 2030.<\/p>\n Tiffany Naiman, the director of music industry programs at UCLA, said the sustained interest in the pop icon speaks to his loyal fan base and place in American cultural history. <\/p>\n \u201cHe represents not only extraordinary artistic achievement, but also the contradictions of fame at its most amplified,\u201d Naiman said in a statement. \u201cThat tension \u2014 between brilliance and controversy, innovation and scrutiny \u2014 is precisely what continues to draw audiences back, and what will likely shape both the film\u2019s reception and its broader cultural impact.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lionsgate\u2019s \u201cMichael\u201d is on track to unseat \u201cStraight Outta Compton\u201d as the king of musical biopics. Early returns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1864,1924,121939,121941,664,48,52,51,1637,121940,47,50,49,57887,22864,47158,26985,5927,3044,58474,315],"class_list":{"0":"post-284140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-audience","9":"tag-film","10":"tag-jaafar-jackson","11":"tag-jackson-estate","12":"tag-king","13":"tag-la","14":"tag-la-headlines","15":"tag-la-news","16":"tag-life","17":"tag-lionsgate","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","20":"tag-los-angeles-news","21":"tag-michael","22":"tag-michael-jackson","23":"tag-movie-theater","24":"tag-pop","25":"tag-production","26":"tag-story","27":"tag-storyline","28":"tag-time"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}