The Michael Jackson biopic has grossed over $715 million worldwide, so it really shouldn’t be any surprise that Lionsgate is moving forward with a sequel. The studio has already teased that they’re working on a sequel, but Lionsgate Studios Motion Picture Chair Adam Fogelson has spilled a few more details during the company’s quarterly earnings call.
Michael Sequel
Fogelson said Lionsgate is “really excited about the progress we’re making” on the Michael sequel. “All the conversations that we’ve been having with all of the appropriate parties continue to go exceptionally well,” he said, “and I would say that there is a ton of incredibly entertaining Michael Jackson story, and much of the biggest and most popular parts of his music catalog that were not touched upon in the first film.“
He continued, “We can go forwards and backwards in telling this story. There are so many other events that happened, even in the time frame of the original movie, that weren’t touched upon. So we’re very, very confident that we’ve got an incredibly entertaining movie that will appeal once again to a global audience as the pieces come together.“
Parts of the Sequel Have Already Been Filmed
This doesn’t happen often, but parts of the Michael sequel have already been filmed. The story of the first movie ends in 1988, but it originally went much further. A lot of footage was left on the cutting room floor, all scenes which revolved around the child molestation allegations and court cases which dominated the latter half of Jackson’s life.
So why wasn’t this included in the movie? It turns out that the Jackson estate realized there was a clause in a settlement with Jordan Chandler, a 13-year-old boy who Jackson was accused of sexually abusing, which “barred the depiction or mention of him in any movie.” The cast reassembled for over three weeks of reshoots, which cost the production another $10 million to $15 million.
But Fogelson said the sequel will be able to use the original footage. “25% to 30% of a second movie [was] already shot from the prior production activity, and so obviously that will have some benefit ultimately,” he explained. “But we’ll make sure we make a big and satisfying movie for a global audience once again, so I wouldn’t want to quantify exactly what that’s going to look like. But undoubtedly that 25% to 30% will be material.“
Michael is currently playing in theaters, and you can check out a review from our own Chris Bumbray right here.
