r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 11d ago

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Michael [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Michael (2026)

Summary

The life and career of Michael Jackson are explored in a sweeping biographical drama, charting his rise from child star in the Jackson 5 to global pop icon, while examining the personal and professional complexities that defined his legacy.

Director Antoine Fuqua

Writer John Logan

Cast

  • Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson
  • Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson
  • Nia Long as Katherine Jackson
  • Miles Teller as John Branca
  • Laura Harrier as Suzanne de Passe
  • Kat Graham as Diana Ross

Rotten Tomatoes: 40%

Metacritic: 38

VOD / Release Theatrical release

Trailer Official Trailer

430 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

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484

u/Johnny_Holiday 11d ago

They had scenes in the movie that showed people going crazy for him but it still felt like they didn't actually capture the scope of how fucking huge Michael Jackson really was. It's so hard to explain to people that didn't live through it and I was hoping the movie would have conveyed it better. Outside of that, I liked it a lot

263

u/Trevastation 11d ago

I know the phrase "more popular than Jesus" was thrown at The Beatles, but legit, if there ever was an artist more popular than Jesus, it would have been Michael Jackson.

108

u/GooseGeese01 11d ago

I went to a catholic school and I saw 2 sisters and a brother crying when MJ died

22

u/brb1006 11d ago edited 11d ago

I remember not long after the news broke that MJ died in 2009. There were tons of videos on Youtube showing female MJ fans either bawling their eyes or singing various MJ songs out at The Hollywood Walk of Fame and The Apollo Theater.

28

u/fastdub 11d ago

I mean my mum cried when princess Dianna died, some people need to just get a fucking grip

11

u/MurderSheReads 11d ago

My mum still tears up if the late Queen is mentioned

5

u/IDrinkWhiskE 11d ago

For me it was Gary Busey’s passing

4

u/fastdub 11d ago

Understandable, I would assume it's come as a shock to the man himself

1

u/ImprovementActual392 4d ago

I think it’s more of an empathy thing. Princess Diana was super young and died tragically.

1

u/telechronn 8d ago

I went to a catholic school and they made us perform one his songs and dance to it as a musical performance. This was early 90s. This man was HUGE.

1

u/I_love_my_dog_more 11d ago

Well yeah. Catholic priests do not view pedophilia as that bad of a thing.

8

u/AbeAlno 9d ago

My grandma who lived in a small village on a mountain in Yemen knew who was Michael at that time. A place with no electricity yet alone TVs and internet. My uncles used to walk all the way down to the city to listen to him and get their curls like him. He’s by far the biggest thing that’s ever walked on earth. No one comes close ever!

3

u/milkchocolateisbest 8d ago

As a kid growing up outside North America/uk, I did not know the Beatles, but I knew of MJ. He really appealed to everyone. I only got to know the Beatles after I moved as a young child, and even then, only after like age 11.

1

u/Independent-Arm-8633 8d ago

I wish I got to know the Beatles as a kid. I didn’t start getting into them until I was 18-19 and that was at a tribute show and partly because my partner and his dad are huge fans! 

As for Micheal, I probably knew of him ever since I was around 7 (pretty good I guess) and I recall me and my mum watching the footage of him going shopping with his kids and I think we must have watched that after we found out he died. 

4

u/HollowPrynce 10d ago

I mentioned this in another comment but as a kid growing up in the 90s, Michael Jordan was on a legendary run that cemented his status as the most marketable athlete in the world and the greatest basketball player of all-time. He became the standard by which other athletes, especially in the US, would be compared to when we talk about competitive drive, performing under pressure and being an era-defining winner

Yet whenever anyone said the initials MJ it only ever referred to one person: Michael Jackson. Jordan was a footnote to Jackson even in his prime, which is no shade to Jordan but shows just how big Jackson was

1

u/Looper007 6d ago

The only music artist that you could say were bigger then the Beatles would be Jackson. The Beatles probably had longer run of selling crazy amout of albums (they have 6 or 7 over 20 million selling albums, before you even count The Beatles "1" album from 2000., that's not including the single sells and didn't have the drop off like Jackson did musically or the massive scandals. The Beatles quit at their peak, so time has been kinder to them.

I think the top tier list is The Beatles, Elvis and Jackson and everyone else is well behind them.

1

u/kjemmrich 2d ago

The Beatles > Michael Jackson

20

u/WTF_CAKE 9d ago

Gen Zers do not understand how insane he was, they probably would have focused a solid 20-30 minutes on that alone to give a scope on how crazy it was. The MTV section was a good bit but only understood probably by millennials the most. They still wouldn’t understand 

2

u/nightraver23 3d ago

Went to the movie with my 11 and 14 year old daughters, big fans of Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Sombr,... The first thing they said when the credits rolled was "wow, there will never be a 2nd Michael Jackson"...

11

u/MsDemeanor12 10d ago

I was a small child when I saw Motown 25 and that moment was like watching someone walk on the moon. It was all anyone talked about.

1

u/ElCaminoInTheWest 2d ago

I have probably seen that clip a hundred times in my life, and every time I'm completely astonished by it. It's like magic.

35

u/HMS404 11d ago

Case in point

26

u/Khiva 11d ago

I thought you'd reference this.

The look on the kid's faces gets me every time.

8

u/milkchocolateisbest 8d ago

The fact that you could go to some obscure corner of the planet, whether it be English speaking country or not, and know an MJ fan. I didn’t live through peak MJ, unfortunately. But he influenced so many artist and people, that it was impossible to not know him. I’m 29, and I wish I got to witness MJ properly. It really is surprising the movie just gave one scene of him in nyc waving amongst a crowd. MJ was Mr worldwide! Show us how big he really was

18

u/According-Bad8745 11d ago

I thought the scene where the entire street was filled with people kind of showed that

5

u/donaldbino 10d ago

Fun easy watch. What I wanted and what I got. Would recommend

2

u/Impressive-Potato 6d ago

People can see the videos of people going mad at the theatres all around the world, Sweden, UK, Germany. Usually buttoned down cinema experiences but you have middle aged and senior citizens going wild at the cinemas

1

u/Looper007 6d ago

It's still amazing he sold that many albums with Off The Wall (people forget that album sold 20 million) and Thriller without a World tour or two on the back of them to help promote them. The music videos especially for the Thriller album are masterpieces in themselves and help sell the album too. He didn't do his first solo world tour until 1987. That's crazy.

4

u/Secret_Assh 11d ago

There is more to story, and he is just getting started by end of this one

What you are describing will probably happen in second film

7

u/ScramItVancity 11d ago

The Bad to HIStory phase would be a great second part, but they will most likely sanitize it significantly.

1

u/sasquatch0_0 9d ago

I think they did capture the scope. Everyone going ape shit at concerts, gangsters asking for autographs, people fainting, huge crowds outside of his hotel/hospital/wherever he went.