Michael Jackson died nearly 17 years ago, yet he has never felt more present. The King of Pop is the 26th most-listened to artist on Spotify. He has inspired Cirque du Soleil shows and buzzy Broadway musicals. Even Gen Zs, many of whom weren’t alive to see him moonwalk in real time, are dancing their hearts out to his songs on TikTok.
This resurgence – or immortalisation, rather – has arguably peaked with the release of Michael, the $US150 million-plus blockbuster about the singer’s life. Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) and starring A-list stars including Colman Domingo and Miles Teller – as well as Jackson’s actual nephew Jaafar – the film is expected to overtake Bohemian Rhapsody as the highest-grossing musical biopic of all time (both films share a producer, Graham King). It has already made history, in fact: In November, it attained the status of most-viewed music biopic trailer ever.
For the man who has had the bestselling album in history since the ’80s (Thriller), this kind of posthumous celebration may seem undeniably warranted. But beyond the glitz and glam lies a deeply complicated legacy.
The pop icon died of a prescription drug overdose in 2009 at the age of just 50. Before that, his mind-boggling success lay alongside multiple accusations of child sexual abuse, all of which he and his estate vehemently denied.
In 1994, Jackson reportedly paid millions to settle out of court with one of his accusers, Jordan Chandler. He was also cleared of all charges in a four-month sex abuse trial in 2005, in which he was acquitted of molesting a 13-year-old boy.
In February this year, a new lawsuit was filed by four siblings who accused Jackson of having been a “serial child predator” who allegedly preyed upon them when they were seven or eight. Representatives for the Jackson estate, however, denied all the claims, calling them a “desperate money grab”.
None of this is mentioned in Michael. Same goes for MJ: The Musical, the Olivier and Tony Award-winning musical that toured Australia last year.
In some instances, the allegations are not only omitted, but actively avoided. During a New York red carpet premiere of MJ in 2022, a Variety reporter was reportedly asked to leave after inquiring about the abuse accusations. Elsewhere, the 2019 Leaving Neverland documentary, which detailed several allegations launched against Jackson, was quietly removed from HBO Max in 2024 following a settlement with the Jackson estate.
Michael, which was co-produced by executors of the Jackson estate John Branca and John McClain, tracks the singer’s rise from Jackson Five member to pop juggernaut, as well as his fractured relationship with his father. Culminating in the 1988 Bad tour, the film ends before the period in which any of the alleged abuse took place.
This wasn’t always the case, however. According to the film’s director, the original cut saw the film open in 1993 following allegations that Jackson had sexually abused 13-year-old Jordan Chandler. In the scene, police raid the singer’s Neverland Ranch, before the film flashes back to Jackson’s early life.
Speaking with The New Yorker, Fuqua said they ultimately had to reshoot and remove any reference to Chandler after the Jackson estate belatedly discovered a clause in the 1994 settlement that prohibited Chandler’s depiction in any film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, they underwent an additional 22 days of shooting in 2025, and pushed the release to this year (the film had already been delayed by the dual Hollywood strikes). The reshoots reportedly cost between $US10 million and $15 million, which was covered by Jackson’s estate, per Variety.
When asked about the reshoots, chair of Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group – the studio that distributes Michael – Adam Fogelson told The Hollywood Reporter it was an opportunity to show Jackson’s rise in the most “artistically satisfying way”.
“The opportunity was to take more of our time with a very meaningful and full part of the story of [Jackson’s] life and not be worrying about a movie that was going to really be struggling with a hyper-epic length … Then we will determine if, when and how to tell more of the story,” he said.
“Michael Jackson is one of, if not the most, influential artists in human history. The idea that there can’t or shouldn’t be a biopic about him doesn’t seem particularly fair. The point is to get some insight into who this person was, and the movie absolutely does justice to that – whatever you want to make of that, each individual person will have the opportunity to think for themselves.”
What resulted was a film that some have criticised as a safe and overly sanitised depiction of a singular, yet deeply complicated star. The omission of all child abuse allegations, they argue, is an attempt to exonerate Jackson’s image, thus creating a more palatable film for broad audiences and presumably funnelling more money into the Jackson estate.
“Jackson’s seduction is still a living force, operating from beyond the grave,” Dan Reed, director of both Leaving Neverland and Leaving Neverland 2: Surviving Michael Jackson (2025), wrote in The Guardian in 2023. “It seems that the press, his fans and the vast older demographic who grew up loving Jackson are willing to set aside his unhealthy relationship with children and just go along with the music.”
Sanitised or not, people are certainly going along with the music. Preview screenings saw a wave of positive reviews, with some praising Jaafar for his spot-on depiction of his uncle, and others calling it the best musical biopic they’d ever seen. Many online reviews noted its “safe” approach, but still described it as a “must-see”.
It’s clear the biopic has successfully catered to those who grew up with Jackson and feel nostalgic towards his music, and younger audiences who are just now getting to know him. Because let’s face it, a film about an A-list celebrity accused of child sexual abuse is a much harder sell than a jukebox musical about a burgeoning star overcoming the odds to become the King of Pop.
While most of the Jackson family have backed the film – many, including his son Prince, executive-produced it – some have been either absent or outright opposed. Michael’s sister Janet Jackson did not attend the Berlin premiere, and “kindly declined” being featured in the biopic. Meanwhile, his daughter Paris has described the film as a “fantasy land”.
“The film panders to a very specific section of my dad’s fandom that still lives in a fantasy, and they’re going to be happy with it,” Paris wrote on her Instagram story last year. “The thing about these biopics is it’s Hollywood … It’s not real. But it’s sold to you as real … The narrative is being controlled, and there’s a lot of inaccuracy, and there’s a lot of just full-blown lies.”
By the time of its release in Australia there was already speculation about a possible sequel. Could a second film explore Jackson’s life post-1988, including some of the allegations against him? Nothing has been confirmed so far, but at the rate the box office is likely to go, the King of Pop won’t disappear from the spotlight any time soon.
Michael is in cinemas now.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
