Good news for MJ fans, as Lionsgate and GK Films are releasing his biopic Michael on April 24 this year in India and the United States. The film hits standard theaters and IMAX on the same release date. Michael premiered in Berlin on April 10. The movie stars Jaafar Jackson as MJ, the real-life nephew of MJ. Colman Domingo will appear as Joe Jackson and Nina Long as Katherine Jackson. Antoine Fuqua, the director of The Equalizer and Training Day directed this movie.
MJ’s biopic premiered with a critical score of 27% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics have dismissed the movie as too clean and accused it of hiding the star’s troubled past. Fans see it very differently. They praise the energy of the musical numbers and say that Jaafar’s performance feels strikingly close to the real thing.
The budget of the movie rose to about $200 million after the production team filmed many new scenes to change the story and handle legal concerns. Despite the low critic score, the film is tracking for a massive opening weekend between $55-$60 million. It may beat the record for a music biopic previously held by Bohemian Rhapsody.
Continue reading more about the story.
Fan reactions after a shocking 27% Rotten Tomatoes debut score of Michael
A verified X profile, DiscussingFilm, posted about the film’s 27% on Rotten Tomatoes. On X, an MJ fan, StreamWithKev, commented:
Here, the fan is referring RT as Rotten Tomatoes. MJ fans like StreamwithKev are becoming furious with a shocking 27% RT score after the premiere of the film in Berlin on April 10. Another X MJ fan, blaqmN, commented:
Another fan, thyhiro, said,
Another Michael fan, Vusi, replied to the post of DiscussingFilm:
Another fan, The 5ive, replied:
Michael fans are pushing back hard against the low score on RT. Many say that their love for MJ makes the rating feel unfair, while some believe the site has an agenda and argue that the movie looks like the best biopic yet. Others pointed out that the critics do not understand the appeal, since the moonwalk and the music still connect the audience.
Several fans insist that they will watch the film themselves before judging, and some even call for RT to be replaced by Letterboxd. In short, they see the low score as misleading and remain excited for Michael.
Why is the RT score poor for Michael despite being a good musical biopic after Bohemian Rhapsody?
Many critics believe that the film shows a polished version of Jackson’s life and avoids the harder truths. They say it feels approved by his estate because it highlights only the good moments and leaves out the serious allegations of child se*ual abuse. The type of online reviews where a large group of users using fake accounts coordinately post negative reviews of a film or TV show is known as review bombing.
The movie had to spend $15 million dollars on new shoots and big rewrites after a legal deal with Jordan Chandler’s family stopped his story from being shown. Due to this issue, the film ends much earlier in 1988 during the Bad tour, and many viewers felt that the story did not feel complete.
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Edited by Sroban Ghosh