2026’s Michael Jackson Movie Runtime Is Even Shorter Than Expected

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A new movie about Michael Jackson is coming out, following the popularity of biopics about Elvis, Elton John, and Queen. The film, distributed by Lionsgate, will be released on April 24th and uniquely features Michael’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, playing the King of Pop in his first acting role. While fans are excited, early reports suggest the movie may be shorter than expected.

A recent post on X from scooper Cryptic HD Quality indicates that the movie Michael is still in the final stages of editing before its April release. However, it’s now expected to be only slightly over two hours long, which is shorter than previously thought. The scooper specified the runtime will likely be between 2 hours and 5 minutes and 2 hours and 10 minutes.

According to sites like Letterboxd, the film Michael has a runtime of up to 2 hours and 16 minutes (as noted by MJ Friends). This makes it shorter than other popular musician biopics, like Bohemian Rhapsody, which clocks in at 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Fans don’t need to be concerned about the Michael Jackson biopic not fully capturing his life story. The film planned for 2026 will reportedly only cover the first part of his life, with a second movie planned to complete the story.

Michael is predicted to be a major box office success in 2026, according to TopMob. Experts believe the film will be one of the year’s biggest, largely due to the enduring fame and popularity of Michael Jackson, the King of Pop.

Michael’s Two-Part Biopic Plan & Legal Issues Explained

During Lionsgate’s recent earnings call, CEO Jon Feltheimer revealed (according to Variety) that the filmmakers had 3.5 hours of excellent footage for the Michael biopic. However, rumors started last April suggesting Lionsgate was considering releasing the film in two parts. This approach would allow them to tell Michael Jackson’s life story more thoroughly without creating an excessively long movie that could negatively impact ticket sales.

The studio hasn’t officially announced if they’re making a second Michael movie, and they might be waiting to see how the first one performs in theaters before deciding. However, The Hollywood Reporter says Michael will undergo 22 days of reshoots in June 2025. These reshoots will focus on filming new scenes to turn what was originally half a movie into a full-length feature film.

The report revealed a key plot point from the first part of the upcoming Michael Jackson biography: it will end with Jackson leaving the Jackson 5 after releasing his debut solo album, Off the Wall. This still leaves a large portion of his 50-year life to cover in the second half, as he left the family group in 1984 at the age of 25, with the majority of his successful career happening afterward.

Lionsgate still needs to do a lot of development on a possible sequel, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, a script wasn’t even finished as of last May. Adding to the challenges, the film faces a significant legal problem. Previously filmed scenes for the third act focused on Jordan Chandler, who accused Michael Jackson of child sexual abuse in 1993. This is problematic because a legal settlement agreement prevents those accusations from being depicted in a dramatized form.

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2026-03-03 00:34