"Michael" — Antoine Fuqua's biopic of Michael Jackson, with Jackson's nephew Jaafar in the lead role — opens in US theaters Thursday, April 24. The film was delayed a year after Jackson-estate lawyers realized a 1994 settlement clause barred the depiction or mention of accuser Jordan Chandler. A 22-day, $15 million reshoot scrubbed the entire planned third act about the child molestation allegations. Paris Jackson, Michael's daughter, publicly called the script "dishonest" and "filled with inaccuracies" and skipped Monday's LA premiere. Janet Jackson skipped too. Rotten Tomatoes: 27%. Can a 2026 Michael Jackson biopic get away with leaving out the abuse allegations?

1. Yes -- The Music Is the Story (Fuqua, Jermaine, the Estate)

Jaafar is magical, the songs are the songs, and you don't need to relitigate 1993 in every movie about him.

Fuqua made the film he wanted to make, and he has said publicly he's skeptical of the allegations. The director told The Wrap he has some "pause" over the abuse claims and added "people do some nasty things for money." Jaafar Jackson's performance has been consistently praised even by reviewers who panned the film, with critics noting his capture of Michael's voice, posture, and dance. Lionsgate's position: this is a music biopic, not a documentary on the allegations, and the music is what earns a biopic.

A lot of the Jackson family is with him. Jermaine, La Toya, Marlon, and Jackie attended the Monday premiere in Los Angeles. Katherine Jackson reportedly enjoyed the film. Jermaine told Janet she would "miss the wave" if she didn't get on board. For the family members who controlled the project, and for a significant chunk of the fanbase, the assignment was always going to be the artist rather than the accused.

2. No -- It's Dishonest (Paris, Janet, Critics)

Paris said it, reviewers said it, and the RT score says it.

Michael Jackson's own daughter publicly called the script "dishonest" and walked away from the film. Paris Jackson said the script was "filled with inaccuracies" and criticized Colman Domingo for claiming she helped him prepare for his role. Janet Jackson reportedly watched a private screening arranged by Jermaine and "had something negative about almost every scene." When Michael's daughter and Michael's sister both skip the premiere, that is the family's answer, not the family's enthusiasm.

The critics say it's "sanitized." Rotten Tomatoes sits at 27%. The Wrap: "Frustrating Michael Jackson Biopic Makes You Want to Scream." Empire called it "a cosplay tribute with no artistic point-of-view." The consensus description across reviews: "glossy, sanitized, and surprisingly dull." A biopic that doesn't deal with the defining public controversy of its subject's later life isn't a biopic, it's a sanctioned tribute with a soundtrack.

The Chandler settlement blocked the movie from depicting him at all. The rest of the redaction followed.

The 1994 settlement included a clause barring the depiction or mention of Jordan Chandler in any movie, and lawyers caught it after principal photography was already done. Lionsgate confirmed the reshoots in reporting by Variety and NME — a 22-day reshoot at an estimated $15 million cost, during which the planned abuse-allegations finale was cut entirely. Screenwriter John Logan's house was damaged in the Palisades fire, which extended the delay. The film was supposed to release in 2025. It didn't.

The Estate was a producer, which made the settlement terms enforceable on the production. That is different from a filmmaker deciding not to include the allegations. The Chandler settlement had a lifetime-enforceable clause that bound anyone making a film about Michael Jackson with estate cooperation. Even a film that wanted to address the allegations in full would have had to reconstruct them without identifying the accuser — which is the kind of evasion that tends to produce exactly the sanitized result critics are now describing.

Where This Lands

"Michael" is a sanctioned family biopic built around a great lead performance, made under a 1994 settlement clause nobody on set initially remembered. Whether it "gets away with" the omission of the abuse allegations depends on what you think a biopic is for — a complete reckoning with a subject's public life, or a tribute to his music from the people who owned the rights to it.

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