Lionsgate executive ‘really excited about the progress’ on ‘Michael’ sequel

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Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson in the upcoming film ‘Michael.’ (Lionsgate)

It seems progress is being made on a sequel to the Michael Jackson biopic Michael.

Lionsgate Studios Motion Picture Chair Adam Fogelson said he’s “really excited about the progress we’re making” on a sequel to Michael during the company’s quarterly earnings call on Thursday.

“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,” Fogelson said on the call.

As for what events from Jackson’s life would be covered in a potential second film, Fogelson said the studio “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,” Fogelson said.

The Lionsgate executive also said the studio has “25% to 30% of a second movie already shot from the prior production activity.”

“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,” Fogelson said.

Michael opened in theaters on April 24. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the film starred the King of Pop’s nephew Jaafar Jackson and also featured Colman Domingo, Miles Teller and Nia Long.