Vlad Bunoan

Michael Jackson biopic shows franchise thriving despite abuse claims

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k-YAcjaLuSI?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>NEW YORK — The release of a new Michael Jackson biopic — 16 years after his death — highlights a robust franchise seemingly immune to the child sex abuse claims that still haunt the &quot;King of Pop.&quot;</p><p>Film studio Lionsgate is banking on making $700 million in global box office receipts for the feature-length &quot;Michael,&quot; which has its world premiere in Berlin on Friday.</p><p>That figure would far surpass other productions in the same genre except for the Freddie Mercury-inspired &quot;Bohemian Rhapsody,&quot; which took in $910 million.</p><p>&quot;Michael&quot; is just the latest installment of a flourishing economic empire in Jackson&#x27;s name.</p><p>&quot;MJ: The Musical&quot; opened on Broadway in 2022 and has been staged in other countries, while the Cirque du Soleil production &quot;Michael Jackson ONE&quot; has been running in Las Vegas since 2013.</p><p>Mychael Darklighter, a fan who lives in Australia, said he has twice seen the musical and recalled a consistently enthusiastic audience. &quot;A crowd of all ages was going nuts for it each time I attended,&quot; he said.</p><p>Last year, for the 13th time since his death in 2009, Jackson topped the Forbes list of deceased celebrities generating the most revenue.</p><p>And on Spotify, the artist has more monthly listeners than Beyonce, Post Malone, or Olivia Dean — major figures in contemporary pop.</p><p>Vincent Amen, a former advisor to Jackson, said he believes the new film will boost that clout even further. &quot;With the fan base, I think that they&#x27;re putting themselves on the right path to commercial success,&quot; he said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Baby over balcony </strong></div><p>Kimberly Krautter, of the public relations firm K-Factor Strategies, said that Jackson&#x27;s business is more profitable after his death as it is &quot;less fraught with controversy.&quot;</p><p>She pointed to several PR missteps Jackson made, including the moment in 2002 when he famously dangled his baby over a hotel balcony ledge in Berlin while waving to fans gathered below.</p><p>Amen agreed that the positive attention during the singer&#x27;s career was regularly offset by contentious moments.</p><p>&quot;Whatever publicity he had that was positive sometimes was countered with Michael&#x27;s mistakes as negative publicity, and that made it very difficult to do business with him,&quot; he said.</p><p>Another example was in the 2003 documentary &quot;Living with Michael Jackson,&quot; where the star explained that he still invited children to sleep in his bed, even though he was already the subject of child sexual abuse allegations.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;Destroy his character&#x27;</strong></div><p>Despite his 2005 acquittal in a criminal trial for child molestation, Jackson never managed to restore his image while alive.</p><p>Other alleged victims filed civil lawsuits after his death and several proceedings are ongoing. The artist has never been convicted in criminal or civil court.</p><p>According to several media outlets, none of these episodes appear in the biopic which was produced under the supervision of the Jackson family.</p><p>&quot;I would love that the film would tell the most human story about Michael Jackson possible,&quot; said Mark Anthony Neal, professor of African and African American Studies at Duke University.</p><p>&quot;But I also realize that we&#x27;re in a period of time where Hollywood does not deal with celebrities in that way,&quot; he added.</p><p>For Krautter, Jackson&#x27;s image has been relatively spared because he died before the MeToo movement, which notably brought down singer R. Kelly over child sexual abuse.</p><p>Meanwhile, the fan Darklighter remains convinced that Jackson did nothing wrong.</p><p>&quot;I think his legacy is pretty secure, all things considered. No matter how much they try to destroy his character,&quot; he said.</p>

<p>The release of a new Michael Jackson biopic — 16 years after his death — highlights a robust franchise seemingly immune to the child sex abuse claims that still haunt the "King of Pop."</p>

The release of a new Michael Jackson biopic — 16 years after his death — highlights a robust franchise seemingly immune to the child sex abuse claims that still haunt the "King of Pop."