The Michael Jackson film reveals Antoine Fuqua's exciting first footage

On Wednesday at CinemaCon, theater owners got an exciting sneak peek of director Antoine Fuqua's “Michael” (out April 18, 2025), which stars the King of Pop's nephew Jaafar Jackson as the music legend and is currently in production.

“Michael, you have a very special light. So let your light shine into the world,” MJ’s mother Katherine (Nia Long) says in voiceover. The first footage showed the icon with the Jackson 5 (with Juliano Krue Valdi as young Michael) and then in concert doing all the smooth moves fans know and love. (And in case you're wondering, Jackson looks and dances just like his uncle.)

The first recordings were mostly about “Man in the Mirror” and covered various musical moments, but also family life and some of the darker aspects, such as being overwhelmed by the public and being hospitalized.

In a Lionsgate presentation, producer Graham King (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) promised that the biopic would cover Jackson's musical achievements, including more than 30 songs, and his controversies. “There are biopics, and then there is Michael,” said King, who called him “an enigma full of eccentricities.”