Michael has overtaken Bohemian Rhapsody as the highest-grossing music biopic of all time.
Jaafar Jackson in Michael
The Michael Jackson movie was released in cinemas on 24 April and has taken $911.9 million worldwide, overtaking the 2018 film about Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, which took $910.9 million across the global box office, Deadline reports.
Michael has also become the highest-grossing biopic domestically.
And the film will be looking to cross the $1 billion mark in global takings, a feat already reached by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, making the animated sequel the best-performing movie in 2026 so far.
Michael ended amid the King of Pop’s Bad tour in 1987, and a second film is in the pipeline, with studio Lionsgate recently confirming they already have “25 to 30 percent” of the project in the bank from the previous shoot.
Speaking in a quarterly earnings call in May, Lionsgate film chief Adam Fogelson said: “We are really excited about the progress we’re making with respect to a second Michael film.
“All the conversations that we’ve been having with all of the appropriate parties continue to go exceptionally well.”
Fogelson hinted that the follow-up film might not end up being chronological.
He added: “We can go forwards about backwards in telling this story.”
Michael, which was directed by Antoine Fuqua from a script written by John Logan, starred the late musician’s nephew Jaafar Jackson and child star Juliano Valdi as the singer in different stages of his life.
It turns out the studio actually has a wealth of material cut from the first movie which could form part of the sequel.
He explained: “We think we’ve got 25 to 30 percent of a second movie already shot from the prior production activity, and so obviously that will have some [financial] benefit ultimately, but we’re going to make sure we make a big and satisfying movie for a global audience once again.”
The first movie was set to explore the fallout of Jackson’s molestation allegations on his life, with a third act dedicated to the scandal.
However, attorneys for the Thriller hitmaker’s estate discovered a clause in a settlement with Jordan Chandler, one of the singer’s accusers, which barred him from being depicted or mentioned in any film project.
At this stage, it doesn’t appear that Michael 2 could feature that part of Jackson’s life without breaking the terms of the settlement.
However, Fogelson has insisted there is plenty of the pop icon’s story to tell, including some of his “biggest and most popular” music.
He said: “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 catalogue that were not touched upon in the first film.
“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.”