"Michael," Antoine Fuqua's Michael Jackson biopic, is now available to rent or buy on digital platforms including Apple TV, Prime Video, Fandango at Home and YouTube, following its April 24 theatrical release.
There is no confirmed subscription-streaming home yet, so for now watching means paying per title. The film arrives already the second-highest-grossing music biopic ever made, behind only "Bohemian Rhapsody," after a $217 million worldwide opening weekend.
Written by John Logan and directed by Fuqua, the film traces Michael Jackson from his childhood as the Jackson 5's lead singer through the solo years that made him the biggest entertainer in the world, ending with his preparation for the 1987 Bad tour. Jaafar Jackson, the singer's real nephew, plays Michael in his first major screen role, opposite Colman Domingo as Joseph Jackson, Nia Long as Katherine Jackson, Miles Teller as attorney John Branca and Mike Myers as record executive Walter Yetnikoff.
The film's ending exists in its current form because of a legal problem, not a creative one. A settlement clause tied to 1993 accuser Jordan Chandler barred any depiction of him, forcing Fuqua's team into 22 days of reshoots in mid-2025 that rebuilt the entire third act. The result is a film that stops at the Bad tour rather than following Jackson into later controversies. Critics have largely responded to that gap: reviews sit at 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, repeatedly praising Jaafar Jackson's performance while faulting the film for reducing his artistry to montage.
That critic-audience split is the reason to watch it now with clear eyes rather than skip it. Audiences have embraced the film anyway, with a 97% Rotten Tomatoes audience score and an A- CinemaScore. It works best for anyone who wants the hits, the choreography and Jaafar Jackson's performance as a piece of casting news in its own right, rather than a reckoning with its subject.
