Ahead of Friday’s release of Michael Jackson’s biopic “Michael”, a family member has gushed to the media in a series of posts.
Taj Jackson, Michael’s nephew and son of Jackson 5 member Tito, publicly mocked the media on Twitter/X on Tuesday, saying the media can no longer “control the narrative of who Michael Jackson really was. The public is going to see this movie…they will decide for themselves,” ending with, “And you can’t stand it.”
The film, directed by Antoine Fuqua and produced by part of Michael Jackson’s estate, chronicles the life of the King of Pop from the time he was a 10-year-old member of the Jackson 5 to the height of his popularity, around 1988, when he was 30 and touring behind his breakthrough album Bad.
Originally, the film expanded further into the future, focusing on the shocking child sexual abuse allegations leveled against Michael Jackson in 1993 and the subsequent investigation. However, lawyers for the Jackson estate found that the settlement with one of the accusers made it impossible to depict or mention them in any way in the film. This discovery necessitated the development of a new third act, which cost between $15 million and $20 million and required 22 days of reshoots.
Variety previously reported that Michael’s domestic opening was expected to be between $65 million and $70 million, with hopes for $700 million worldwide. The film currently has an approval rating of 37% on Rotten Tomatoes, which aggregates reviews from critics.
Taj Jackson continued, “I can’t wait until some critics have to eat crow,” adding, “Yeah, I’m going to be that boring too.”
