©Courtesy of Lionsgate
Adam Fogelson, the chairman of Lionsgate Studios Motion Picture, states that the company is making great progress in generating a sequel to last month’s massive hit “Michael“. Actually, during today’s call with analysts after the company’s quarterly earnings report, he pointed out there’s plenty of potential franchise.
According to Fogelson, the follow-up is still in its early stages, but it is progressing well. Conversations are progressing ‘exceptionally well’ and everything is coming together.
“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.
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”.
As we know, much of the film’s original third act was scrapped with the existing movie cutting off well before the controversies surrounding Jackson emerged. Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer indicates that the existing footage will almost certainly be reused:
“We believe there is a lot more story to tell and a lot more music to share. [We have] 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.”
Jaafar Jackson, Michael Jackson’s real life nephew, is the star of the first film, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Jaafar Jackson, which looks like it could be the first Lionsgate film to earn $1 billion worldwide.
The initial film chronicles the musician’s early years, focusing on the revelation of their talent as the Jackson Five’s guardians, leading up to an aspiration to become the globe’s top entertainer, fueled by their creative drive.