Confirmed Michael Jackson Sequel May Finally Show What Was Missing

Lionsgate confirmed that the second Michael movie is moving ahead, much to the delight of fans worldwide.

The studio commented on the sequel after the first film broke major box office milestones globally and reignited more fascination with Jackson’s life and music nearly 17 years after his death.

According to Deadline, Lionsgate chair Adam Fogelson said the company believes there is still “a ton of incredibly entertaining Michael Jackson story” left to explore.

“We can go forwards and backwards in telling this story,” Fogelson said. “There are so many other events that happened, even in the time frame of the original movie, that weren’t touched upon.”

Immediately after confirming the sequel, fans reacted to the news as the first Michael movie was such a success.

"The second part is going to be better than the first one," one fan said.

While another quipped, "Michael Jackson story was too big for one movie though."

The first film was directed by Antoine Fuqua and starred Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson, who many believe was the perfect choice for the role.

Search interest around Michael Jackson has climbed dramatically in recent weeks, outperforming top current pop stars as clips from the film spread across TikTok, YouTube, and X.

Much of that renewed fascination fascination comes from younger audiences who are only now discovering Jackson through the movie rather than through his original fame.

Fuqua said that became one of his main goals while making the project in an earlier Deadline interview.

“I wanted to humanize Michael,” the director explained. “I wanted people to get to know him: How eccentric he was, how he was as a young man.”

He added, “I always felt that younger generations didn’t know Michael or his story.”

The way that Fuqua framed the story emotionally has been key to the film’s success. Rather than focusing on the controversial part of his life, Michael focused on Jackson’s childhood, perfectionism, fame and isolation.

Fuqua also said the team intentionally focused on the singer’s emotional development before moving into darker territory. He wasn't afraid to explore the foundation of what made Michael tick and explore "his own insecurities."

Fuqua shared that he wanted to "ground him as much as we can, so that he’s relatable to anyone outside of being on that stage."

“It was important for us to go back, and give them a journey to go on with Michael,” he explained.

Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said they believe there is “a lot more story to tell and a lot more music to share.”

Since many of Jackson's biggest moments were only skimmed over in the first movie, Fogelson suggested the sequel could revisit periods and events skipped over entirely.

“There are so many other events that happened, even in the time frame of the original movie, that weren’t touched upon,” he said.

The studio also revealed that roughly 25% to 30% of footage for a second movie has already been shot during production of the first film. This means that the sequel could move ahead faster than expected.

Fuqua confirmed that more of Jackson’s life was filmed than audiences ultimately saw onscreen.

“We went pretty far,” he said. “We went through the Jordan allegations we couldn’t use. We went farther than that.”

They had to do a lot of rethinking because of the legal complications surrounding Jackson's accuser Jordan Chandler. Fuqua said that they had to rethink the structure of the movie entirely.

“That was a tough period,” he admitted. “The movie is called Michael so you have to focus on Michael.”