A new Michael Jackson film has defied critics to break audience records

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Michael, a new film about Michael Jackson, has defied critics to enjoy the biggest ever opening weekend for a biopic.

So what? No matter that the movie includes none of the sexual abuse allegations which the popstar repeatedly denied. Developed in close collaboration with the Jackson estate, it

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  stars Michael Jackson’s nephew in the title role;

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  has a 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes; and

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  shows how biopics can be harnessed to burnish legacies.

Too high to get over. Fans of the King of Pop have readily embraced the movie, with videos circulating of people dressed as Jackson and dancing in cinemas as the credits roll.

Too low to get under. It has been panned by film critics. Only 38% of 244 reviews are positive. The BBC’s Nicholas Barber called Michael a “barely competent daytime TV movie”, while a writer for Slate described it as “a train wreck, morally and cinematically”.

Stuck in the middle. Janet Jackson, Michael’s youngest sister, is absent from the biopic. She was not involved in the film’s production and has not taken part in any promotion. Michael’s daughter Paris, who is currently in a legal battle with his estate, looked at an initial draft of the film script but has since said that there were “a lot of full-blown lies” in the final product.

The pain is thunder. Several critics have expressed concern that the film does not deal with any of the child sexual abuse allegations that hounded Michael Jackson throughout the latter half of his career. Jackson and his estate have repeatedly denied all allegations.

People vs Jackson. The popstar was first publicly accused of child sexual abuse in 1993, but allegations continue to resurface. In February, four siblings launched a lawsuit against his estate after settlement negotiations broke down. Jackson was found not guilty on all counts of child sexual abuse, including four of molesting a minor, in a 2005 criminal trial.

Someone’s always trying. The director of Michael, Antoine Fuqua, wanted to include some of the abuse allegations but could not after the discovery of a historic agreement that prevented one accuser from being depicted or mentioned on screen. The original cut of Michael involved the police raiding Jackson’s home in 1993. Subsequent reshoots reportedly cost up to £11m.

Don’t matter if you’re black or white. Some think it does. Fans have questioned why reviewers have criticised Michael for not mentioning abuse allegations when the film only covers the star’s life until 1988 – five years before the first public accusation.

Man in the mirror. Lawrence Ware argues in The Root that when a biopic subject is Black the expectation is for “confession, condemnation, and closure all at once”. He points to films such as Elvis, which he said were allowed to “smooth over the messier parts” of their protagonists’ lives.

Don’t worry what people say. Black people are a core part of the Michael Jackson fanbase.

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  The star’s first public appearance after the 1993 allegations was at the NAACP awards.

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  A 2019 YouGov poll found that only 17% of Black Americans said they believed child abuse allegations against Jackson, compared to 45% of white Americans.

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  According to PostTrack, a movie-theatre exit-polling company, Black people made up the largest share of cinema-goers for the opening weekend of Michael in the US.

It’s human nature. Michael is the latest in a slew of biopics that are creatively connected to their subjects. These include Bob Marley: One Love (co-producers: Rita, Ziggy and Cedella Marley), Rocketman (executive producer: Elton John) and A Complete Unknown (producer: Bob Dylan’s manager). Studios are required to get sign-off from rights holders for the use of songs, which gives artists and estates significant leverage over the direction of music films.

Wanna be starting something. Antoine Fuqua has confirmed that a sequel to Michael is in the works, while the producers of Thriller Live, the long-running West End production, will launch a new tribute show in London next month.

What’s more… These are further signs that there is still plenty of money in one of the best-selling popstars of all time, whatever his legacy.