The upcoming film, Michael, which will follow the life and career of American musician Michael Jackson (played by the musician’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson), is going to be released in theaters on April 24, 2026. Ahead of the premiere, there were rumors circulating that the film is four hours long, leading to speculations that the film might be released in two parts.
However, while originally the film was four hours long, editors John Ottman and Harry Yoon have managed to reduce the runtime to 2 hours, 7 minutes. Director Antoine Fuqua has revealed how that difficult task was completed.
How the Michael Jackson movie was shortened from 4 hours to 2 hours
While a four-hour film isn’t unheard of, it is not the norm for films to be that long. Audiences might not be able to sit in the theater that long, and thus, despite films being originally very long, they are edited to 2-3 hours. In an interview with ScreenRant, Michael’s director, Antoine Fuqua, revealed that they were able to shorten the film appropriately due to editors John Ottman and Harry Yoon.
Praising the editors, Fuqua said,
“It’s great editors, man. Great storytellers that we work with. Those guys came in and helped us hone it in. Graham’s been on it for four or five years. I’ve been on it for two years. You need fresh eyes sometimes to come in and help shape it. And great editors, that’s what they do.”
Producer Graham King has been working on the film for over four years, and Fuqua joined the project in 2023, which makes them extremely familiar with the film’s content. They had been looking at it in a specific way, which perhaps did not allow them to cut out anything. But Ottoman and Yoon brought in fresh perspectives, which led to the film getting edited to an appropriate runtime. Speaking of the editors, Fuqua also said,
“Great editors. The best editors in the world, man. It wasn’t easy. And Graham would call me at two or three in the morning because he’d have a thought about something, and you go back into the editing. I think they just took the film from us a couple of days ago.”
Other than Jaafar Jackson, Michael also stars Juliano Krue Valdi as young Michael, Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson, Nia Long as Katherine Jackson, Miles Teller as John Branca, Laura Harrier as Suzanne de Passe, KeiLyn Durrel Jones as Bill Bray, Jamal R. Henderson as Jermaine Jackson, Jayden Harville as young Jermaine, Tre Horton as Marlon Jackson, Jaylen Lyndon Hunter as young Marlon, Rhyan Hill as Tito Jackson, Judah Edwards as young Tito, Joseph David-Jones as Jackie Jackson, Nathaniel Logan McIntyre as young Jackie, and Jessica Sula as La Toya Jackson.
Additional cast members include Kendrick Sampson as Quincy Jones, Larenz Tate as Berry Gordy, Liv Symone as Gladys Knight, Kevin Shinick as Dick Clark, Mike Myers as Walter Yetnikoff, and Deon Cole as Don King. The film is written by John Logan and produced by Graham King, John Branca, and John McClain. Lionsgate Films and GK Films are the production companies behind the film.
Michael will be released in theaters on April 24, 2026.
For more articles like this, follow Soapcentral.
Edited by Sroban Ghosh