By Michaela Gordoni
The Michael Jackson biopic, MICHAEL, just came out in April, and Lionsgate already has the sequel underway, thanks to lots of extra footage from the first part.
“All the conversations that we’ve been having with all of the appropriate parties continue to go exceptionally well, 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,” Lionsgate Studios Motion Picture Chair Adam Fogelson said on a call with analysts after the company’s quarterly earnings.
The company is excited with the progress it’s made thus far on the second movie, Deadline reported.
“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,” Fogelson added.
Related: MICHAEL Smashes Musical Biopic Box Office Record
The first movie is on track to be the first Lionsgate movie to go over $1 billion at the global box office.
CEO Jon Feltheimer said, “We believe there is a lot more story to tell and a lot more music to share.”
The second movie already has approximately 25-30% of its scenes shot which were filmed when the first movie was.
Fogelson said, “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.”
Part of Movieguide®’s -1 review of MICHAEL reads, “The movie gives viewers some insight into what experiences animated Michael. For example, it shows Michael retreating from his father’s wrath by finding comfort in childlike fantasy and caring for exotic animals. However, MICHAEL avoids examining the more controversial allegations against the pop star.”
MICHAEL director Antoine Fuqua hasn’t been confirmed for the sequel. He’s committed to make a movie about Carthaginian general Hannibal for Netflix with Denzel Washington.
He previously said he’d like to direct the sequel, but “it’s just about scheduling. It would kill me if somebody else did it,” he said.
It’s unclear if the sequel will address child sexual abuse allegations that were made against Jackson. In 2003, Jackson was arrested for multiple abuse charges. Last month, a new lawsuit was filed against Jackson’s estate that claimed the pop legend molested four out of five siblings in the Cascio family when they were children.
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