Lionsgate is moving ahead with a sequel to its Michael Jackson biopic Michael, with production targeted for late 2026 or early 2027 and a release window around the end of 2027 into the first half of 2028. Adam Fogelson, chairman of Lionsgate's Motion Picture Group, laid out the timeline on a Q1 analyst call on 6 August 2026, according to Deadline.

The first film, directed by Antoine Fuqua and produced by Graham King, has become Lionsgate's highest-grossing release, crossing $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Universal handled the bulk of the film's $643.7 million in international grosses — excluding Russia, the C.I.S. territories and Japan, which Lionsgate's own foreign sales arm managed. Fogelson told analysts that Lionsgate evaluates profitability on a ten-year cycle and expects Michael to carry a long tail of revenue across that window.

The road to that billion was not without cost. During production, the Jackson estate overlooked the inclusion of one of the singer's accusers in the John Logan-penned script. A sequence already shot had to be redone, triggering roughly $50 million in reshoots that the estate covered. The biopic's release itself shifted from November 2025 to the final weekend of April 2026.

For the sequel, Lionsgate already has material in hand. Fogelson said a number of sequences — particularly large-scale musical numbers — were shot during the first production and are "almost sure" to appear in the follow-up. He declined to give budget guidance for the second film but said the studio would take advantage of that existing footage. He also said Lionsgate was not ready to announce everything about the sequel at this stage. On profit participation, he said there was nothing unusual about how money was being shared among those involved in the first film.

Fogelson touched on another title in the pipeline: Sunrise on the Reaping, the next Hunger Games prequel, which he called one of the studio's best-tested films.

The call on 6 August covered Lionsgate's first-quarter fiscal 2027 results, released after market close. The studio has been navigating a mixed financial picture in recent quarters — a net loss of $94 million in Q1 fiscal 2026 and $112 million in Q2 fiscal 2026 — though the Michael haul will factor into the numbers being discussed.

For audiences, the sequel timeline means another Jackson film is at least 16 months away from cameras rolling. For Lionsgate, it means leveraging one of the few billion-dollar properties on its slate to extend the story — and the revenue — well beyond a single film.