[TRAILER]: 'MICHAEL’ Trailer Drops From Lionsgate - Antoine Fuqua Brings the King of Pop to the Big Screen!

The wait is over. Lionsgate has officially dropped the first trailer for Michael, the highly anticipated Michael Jackson biopic directed by Antoine Fuqua and this first look finally confirms the tone and scale they’ve been teasing behind the scenes. The film stars Jaafar Jackson in the role of his uncle, and the trailer immediately makes one thing clear: this isn’t cosplay, this is embodiment.

The footage leans hard into the spectacle. We see full arena recreations, intense rehearsal footage, and that impossible focus MJ was known for when he stepped into performance mode. Lionsgate is treating this like a global theatrical event, aiming at the kind of prestige release that gets the entire culture talking. Michael is currently slated to hit theaters on April 24, 2026, giving this trailer more than a year of runway to build momentum.

WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW:

For fans who haven’t been tracking the casting news, this film is stacked. Alongside Jaafar Jackson, the cast includes Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Miles Teller, Laura Harrier, Kat Graham, Larenz Tate, Derek Luke and more. It’s a family drama, a business story, a music industry rise… and an intimate portrait of a global phenomenon who never really stopped evolving.

The bigger context here is that the appetite for this film has been loud all year especially once insiders started whispering that Jaafar wasn’t just playing the part, he was delivering something eerily lived-in. This trailer plants the flag: Michael is not a montage jukebox movie. It’s a character piece framed through one of the most obsessively documented lives in pop culture history, but told with focus, tact, and scale.

Bottom line: the Michael Jackson conversation is about to dominate the movie space for the next twelve months. The trailer proves this isn’t a small nostalgic one-off. It’s a big swing. And if this first look is any indication, people are going to show up.

Stay tapped in with WeAreCritiX as we break down what this film means for biopics, for performance cinema, and for the culture at large.