*Looks like the highly anticipated Michael Jackson biopic will continue to be highly anticipated. With no sign of a release date.
Referencing an earnings call from Lionsgate on May 22, the studio making the film, Showbiz411 reports the biopic will not come out in 2025, with a possible 2026 arrival listed as “Maybe.”
According to the site, “a number of outlets” mention “a four-hour cut of scenes not edited together. Despite the footage, the delay seems to be caused by a lack of focus with those involved with the biopic not agreeing on what their project is about.
“All the reasons the movie isn’t working out are also the ones why ‘MJ The Musical’ is a hit on Broadway,” Showbiz411 co-founder and Editor-In-Chief Roger Friedman wrote in his assessment of the situation. “MJ” stops after “Thriller” and “Bad” are released. It tells the Michael Jackson story right up to the point where weirdness set in.
Friedman notes the turmoil in Jackson’s life that started in 1993, particularly the music icon having stay overnight and sleeping in his bed, in addition to the Jordan Chandler scandal, which resulted in Jackson settling the case to the tune of $15 to $20 million.
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Further low points highlighted by the writer included the start of Jackson’s changing managers, being taken advantage of by “a lot of greedy people,” and leveraging the Beatles’ catalog to stay financially afloat, as well as lawyers handling his legal situations involving molestation accusations, payoffs, and settlements.
The “You Are Not Alone” entertainer’s bizarre relationships, as well as a trial foreshadowing his death in Los Angeles on June 25, 2009, only add more negative weight to the challenge of putting together a worthwhile life story on the man many still hold in high regard.
“Does anyone want to see all that?” Friedman asks. “How could it be explained positively? Answer: it can’t.”
“MJ” is a celebration of Michael, telling the Jackson story and how it led to Michael working with Quincy Jones and their outsized success with three solo albums. That’s the same place the movie should end,” he continued.”
“Going beyond that barrier, there’s no upside. It’s dark, twisted, and there’s no way out. Michael became addicted to drugs. His bizarre relationships with Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando’s family. It just gets worse and worse.”
Although he acknowledged that Lionsgate is “considering two movies” centering on the King of Pop, Friedman considers that “a mistake” that would only undermine Jackson’s musical legacy.
“The second one would be brutal, and not favorable to Michael,” he voiced while giving his take on how Lionsgate should approach the biopic. “No one asked me, but they should make one great concert movie and leave it at that. End it in 1990 with Michael on top of the world. What happened next was deeply tragic, and to tell it truthfully means undermining the music.”
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB: Michael Jackson Biopic: Will the Epic Four-Hour Cut Be Split in Two?
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