Lionsgate Nabs ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Producer’s Michael Jackson Movie

We first got official word of a Michael Jackson biopic back in November 2019, when Deadline reported that Bohemian Rhapsody producer Graham King had secured the rights for a theatrical feature with John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator, Skyfall, etc.) penning the script. Lionsgate just announced that they will be handling global theatrical distribution. The film, titled Michael, will (to quote the press release) “give audiences an in-depth portrayal of the complicated man who became the King of Pop. It will bring to life Jackson’s most iconic performances as it gives an informed insight into the entertainer’s artistic process and personal life.”  

If Lionsgate and friends put pedal to the medal, they can theoretically have Michael ready to open theatrically on the week of August 28, 2023, which would have been Michael Jackson’s 65th birthday. Or they could slow-roll it and open on June 23, 2023, which would be two days shy of the 15th anniversary of his death. If that sounds cynical, well, it is. I’m curious who steps up to play the title role and who ends up in the director’s chair. In terms of smaller-scale filmmakers who deserve a crack at a big studio programmer, I hereby nominate J. D. Dillard. 

I’m guessing that hiring the man who wrote Martin Scorsese’s Howard Hughes biopic is a sign that this won’t be a haplography, even while the two other producers (John Branca and John McClain) are co-executors of the Michael Jackson estate. Besides, even if it is, audiences (fans and otherwise) won’t mind. Film Twitter spent late 2018/early 2019 tearing each other apart over Bryan Singer’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Meanwhile, the Rami Malek-starring Freddy Mercury biopic won four Oscars and earned $213 million domestic and $905 million worldwide on a $55 million budget. That’s the biggest global gross, by a lot, for a straight-up non-fantasy/non-action drama.  

I’m sure the eventual Michael Jackson biopic will garner similar online controversies, both in terms of dealing with Jackson’s arguably abusive child-star childhood and in how it does or doesn’t deal with accusations of child sexual assault, allegations that first surfaced in the early 1990s resulting in civil payouts and a criminal trial in 2005 ending in an acquittal. There was a minor outcry just last week when a Variety red carpet reporter was removed from the opening of the jukebox Broadway musical MJ over asking questions about said allegations. The show ends in 1992 (prior to the reports), but the movie likely won’t have that luxury.

If the movie works as mainstream popcorn entertainment akin to Bohemian Rhapsody (which played like a whirling rock concert), Rocketman (which leaned more toward fantastical musical) or even La Bamba (a celebration of a groundbreaking life ended too soon), general audiences will show up. Freddy Mercury is a marquee character right alongside Spider-Man or Michael Myers. I am old enough to remember when This Is It, a cobbled-together concert rehearsal documentary released theatrically four months after his death earned $261 million worldwide, including a record $7.2 million on Halloween amid a $34.4 million Wed-Sun debut in October 2009. We used to be a country, etc., etc.