Michael Jackson Biopic Will Get ‘At Least’ One Sequel, Studio Boss Claims

As speculation mounts about a potential sequel to the new Michael Jackson biopic, the head of the movie studio behind it has made a bold claim about its future.

Much has been made of the fact that the new film Michael doesn’t address the many allegations of child sexual abuse levelled against the Billie Jean singer in his lifetime, with several prominent figures attached to the movie claiming this could form the basis of a sequel.

Speaking to Business Insider, Lionsgate chief Adam Fogelson said frankly: “Look, there’s at least one more movie.”

He continued: “Just speaking less as an employee of Lionsgate and more as a person who has spent a lot of time in the movie business, I was always excited by the possibility that you could make a more complete and satisfying telling of Michael’s story if you weren’t confined to only one movie.”

Originally, filmmaker Antoine Fuqua had intended to include scenes referencing the allegations, and even shot a sequence of the police raiding Jackson’s Neverland ranch.

However, when production was close to being complete, the Jackson estate discovered a legal clause in one accuser’s settlement, forbidding his name or likeness from ever being featured in a film.

As a result, Fuqua had to bring back the cast and crew for costly reshoots, though Fogelson said some of this footage could still see the light of day.

“From my perspective, it’s important to try to give the audience an authentic understanding of who Michael Jackson was,” he added.

“So I think that that can be done with or without some of what was in the third act that had to be scrapped.”

During an interview published over the weekend, Fuqua was asked if it was true that around “a third of footage” already recorded could go into a potential Michael follow-up, to which he confirmed: “Absolutely.”

He also said last week that if a Michael sequel were to go ahead, he’d hope to not “sensationalise” the stories and controversies surrounding the Grammy winner in his later years.

“Being a movie star, rock star, superstar like Michael, there’s enough of that already,” he claimed. “You don’t have to do much. But I think the key is, like, who was he as a human being?

Michael had a mauling from critics in the lead-up to its release, but it’s seemingly fared much better with audiences.

As well as making more money in its opening weekend than any biopic before it, it holds an audience score on Rotten Tomatoes of 97%, and an average Letterboxd rating of 3.6 stars of a possible five.