Michael Sequel to Uncover Untold Chapters of the King of Pop’s Life
Lionsgate pulls back the curtain on a sequel to the biopic Michael, teasing fresh details and signaling the story’s next act is on the way.
Michael blew the doors off the box office, so naturally Lionsgate didn’t wait around to tee up a sequel. It ’s officially happening, it’s already moving, and the studio says the next chapter won’t just be a retread — it’ll dig into parts of Michael Jackson’s story and catalog the first movie didn’t touch.
What Lionsgate is promising this time
Lionsgate film chief Adam Fogelson says the sequel is being built to be as crowd-pleasing as the first. There is a limitation baked in: for legal reasons, the filmmakers won’t depict any aspects of Jackson’s life and career tied to the allegations. Even so, Fogelson insists there’s plenty of ground left to cover — and a lot of music still on the table.
"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," Fogelson said.
- Unused scenes rescued: Material cut from the first film for legal reasons will now make up roughly 25% to 30% of the sequel, according to Fogelson.
- New hits unlocked: Expect more of Jackson’s biggest songs that didn’t make it into the first movie.
- Fresh events, same era: The sequel will zero in on major moments the original didn’t cover — even within the same timeline.
- Nonlinear approach: Because of how the story pieces fit together (and those previously scrapped scenes), don’t expect a strict, start-to-finish timeline.
About that timeline...
If you remember, the first film wrapped around the 1984 Victory Tour, then jumped ahead for a brief peek at the 1987 Bad tour — which means it skipped plenty in between. That gap is exactly the kind of stuff the sequel plans to raid, along with other corners the first pass didn’t explore.
Meanwhile, Michael keeps racking up receipts
Antoine Fuqua’s biopic didn’t just open big — it steamrolled. Day one landed at $39.5 million, the biggest opening day of 2026 so far, edging past Oppenheimer’s $33 million opening-day mark. It’s stayed durable too, climbing back to No. 1 in its fourth weekend and topping The Devil Wears Prada 2 to do it.
Total haul so far: more than $700 million worldwide. If it keeps cruising, it could even take a run at Bohemian Rhapsody’s $911 million global record — still a tall order, but not impossible at this pace.
The sequel’s greenlit, the plan is bold, and the music bench is deep. If they can pull off that non-chronological structure without losing momentum, this could be a very fun second lap.