Lionsgate Studios Motion Picture Chair Adam Fogelson said the company is “really excited about the progress we’re making” on a second Michael film.
“All the conversations that we’ve been having with all of the appropriate parties continue to go exceptionally well, and I would say that there is a ton of incredibly entertaining Michael Jackson story, and much of the biggest and most popular parts of his music catalog that were not touched upon in the first film,” he added on a call with analysts after the company’s quarterly earnings.
“We can go forwards and backwards in telling this story. There are so many other events that happened, even in the time frame of the original movie, that weren’t touched upon. So we’re very, very confident that we’ve got an incredibly entertaining movie that will appeal once again to a global audience as the pieces come together,” he added, responding to a question about the events that would be covered in a second film.
Michael, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Michael Jackson’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, as the King of Pop, opened April 24 andlooks set to be the first Lionsgate film to top $1 billion at the global box office, said CEO Jon Feltheimer. “We believe there is a lot more story to tell and a lot more music to share,” he said on the call.
Asked about the economics of Michael 2, Fogelson noted that the studio has “25% to 30% of a second movie already shot from the prior production activity, and so obviously that will have some benefit ultimately. But we’ll make sure we make a big and satisfying movie for a global audience once again, so I wouldn’t want to quantify exactly what that’s going to look like. But undoubtedly that 25% to 30% will be material.”
Nia Long and Colman Domingo also star in the film spanning the early life of the musician from the discovery of his talent as the lead of the Jackson Five to the artist whose creative ambition fueled a pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world.