As previously mentioned, “Michael” was first announced in 2019 after the runaway success of the Freddie Mercury biopic, “Bohemian Rhapsody.” While that film received mixed critical reviews and had a hefty controversy hanging over its promotion, it did gross almost a billion dollars at the box office. Because of this, it is likely that King wanted to replicate the success he achieved producing “Bohemian Rhapsody” with another important, yet controversial figure in music history.
After that initial announcement, however, further details on the project remained scarce. This was likely to do with the COVID-19 pandemic, which ground a halt to countless film projects. Work seemed to resume in early 2022 when it was announced that the film had landed a distributor with Lionsgate, but yet again, not much else was released. But earlier this month, it was confirmed that Fuqua will direct the script written by John Logan, with filming slated to begin earlier this year. Jackson’s estate will be closely involved in the film, which may complicate the integrity of the film somewhat, but we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out.
“Michael” currently does not have a release date.