Filmmaker Antoine Fuqua is known for his work in the action and thriller genres, and made his film debut in 1998 with The Replacement Killers. His critical breakthrough was the 2001 crime thriller Training Day, winning the Black Reel Award for Outstanding Director.  He therefore doesn’t seem an obvious choice to helm the highly anticipated biopic of Michael Jackson, which will eventually hit our screens next April.

Jackson is played by his nephew, Jaafar Jackson  making his film debut, with two-time Academy Award nominee Colman Domingo playing his father. The film follows Michael Jackson’s life and career from his time with the Jackson 5 as a child in the late 1960s to his death on June 25, 2009.^[ The fact that the film is written by three-time Academy Award nominee Josh Logan, who is openly gay, gives us hope that the story will not be sanitized and will include warts and all.

Michael is scheduled for release by Lionsgate in the United States on April 24, 2026, and by Universal Pictures internationally.