Michael (2026)

Michael is 2026's most commercially potent non-animated film, grossing $891 million worldwide on a $150 million budget and earning the biggest domestic opening ever for a musical biopic at $97 million. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the film stars Jaafar Jackson, whose ability to replicate his uncle's performance style anchors spectacular concert sequences, including the 1983 Motown 25 moonwalk reconstruction. Critics dismissed the biopic's conventional format, scoring only 56% on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences embraced it with a 96% audience score, creating the year's most dramatic split. The story chronicles Michael Jackson's life from Gary, Indiana through his rise to icon status and later controversies, though Fuqua elides issues too comfortably.