{"id":30929,"date":"2026-08-07T09:35:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T04:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=30929"},"modified":"2026-08-07T09:35:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T04:35:27","slug":"lionsgate-teases-filming-start-and-release-date","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=30929","title":{"rendered":"Lionsgate Teases Filming Start and Release Date"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tLionsgate is working on the sequel to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/michael\/\" id=\"auto-tag_michael\" data-tag=\"michael\">Michael<\/a>\u201d and hopes to start rolling the cameras soon on the second biopic about Michael Jackson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe studio hopes to begin production in late 2026 or early 2027, Lionsgate\u2019s motion picture chief Adam Fogelson said on <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/film\/news\/lionsgate-q2-2026-michael-narrows-loss-1236829508\/\">Thursday\u2019s earnings call<\/a>, with the hopes of releasing the final product at the end of next year or in the first half of 2028.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAlthough the studio waited to officially greenlight the follow-up film, this spring\u2019s \u201cMichael,\u201d which became a box office juggernaut with $1 billion globally, ends with the words \u201cHis Story Continues\u201d \u2014 making it clear that audiences hadn\u2019t seen the last of the King of Pop.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAntoine Fuqua directed \u201cMichael,\u201d which chronicles the performer\u2019s journey from the Jackson 5 to superstar status. The first film, starring the singer\u2019s real-life nephew Jaafar Jackson, wraps up with 1987\u2019s \u201cBad\u201d tour. It\u2019s unclear what period in Jackson\u2019s life the second movie will cover, though the filmmakers can mine material including his hit album \u201cDangerous\u201d as well as the multiple allegations of child sexual abuse that followed Jackson for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tDue to a last-minute legal dispute, \u201cMichael\u201d ended up omitting the most controversial aspects of Jackson\u2019s life. The movie was supposed to address the molestation accusations, but those plans had to be scrapped after attorneys for the Jackson estate discovered a clause in the settlement with one of the accusers that barred the depiction of him in any movie. That forced the filmmakers to retool much of the story, though Fogelson said that some of the material that was cut could be used in the sequel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cWe have a number of sequences, particularly some big musical sequences, that were shot previously, that are almost sure to be incorporated,\u201d Fogelson said on Thursday\u2019s call. \u201cWe are mostly focused right now on how to make sure we can deliver, at the right price, the biggest, best sequel. That is what the audience is going to want and deserve after the experience we gave them the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFogelson said he\u2019s \u201cnot ready to give guidance on the budget yet\u201d but said the company will be able to use some material that was previously shot.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lionsgate is working on the sequel to \u201cMichael\u201d and hopes to start rolling the cameras soon on the second biopic about Michael Jackson. The studio hopes to begin production in late 2026 or early 2027, Lionsgate\u2019s motion picture chief Adam Fogelson said on Thursday\u2019s earnings call, with the hopes of releasing the final product at&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/maven-unit-240504-00234rc-crop3.jpg?crop=0px%2C118px%2C1920px%2C1080px&resize=1000%2C563","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}