Michael Jackson Biopic 'Michael' Hits Starz After Historic Box Office Run

The wait is almost over for anyone who missed the year's most-talked-about biopic on the big screen. Lionsgate's Michael, the sprawling life-of-the-King-of-Pop film that spent months as a genuine cultural event, lands on Starz this Sunday, August 10.

According to a streaming date announcement covered by Deadline, the film will be available on all Starz apps and on-demand platforms beginning that day, with a linear TV premiere the same evening at 7 p.m. ET/PT. That's a 108-day theatrical window, Deadline noted, one that most studios would be happy to dream about right now.

The numbers behind this thing are almost hard to say with a straight face. As reported by Variety, Michael grossed more than $1 billion worldwide after opening April 24 to $97.2 million domestic and $217 million globally, the best opening weekend ever for a musical biopic. According to Decked Out Magazine, the final worldwide tally sits at roughly $372 million domestic and $637 million international, making it the highest-grossing biographical film in cinema history, surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by John Logan, the film traces Jackson's story from his years as the breakout star of the Jackson 5 through the Bad-era peak of his solo career. The casting of Jaafar Jackson, the King of Pop's actual nephew, in the lead role was either inspired or a little uncanny depending on your tolerance for that kind of meta-biography. Variety critic Owen Gleiberman came down firmly on the inspired side, writing that Jaafar "nails the look, the voice, the electrostatic moves" in a way that goes beyond mere impersonation. The ensemble around him is not exactly underselling the film either: Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson, Nia Long as Katherine, Miles Teller as attorney John Branca, and Larenz Tate as Berry Gordy.

The film earned an A- CinemaScore and a 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, per Deadline. It's the kind of gap between those audience numbers and, presumably, a messier critical reception that tells you everything about what kind of movie this is. It is designed to be loved, and it was.

Lionsgate landing this on Starz is not a surprise. As Screen Rant pointed out, Lionsgate has held ownership of Starz since 2016, and a deal struck in 2021 gives the studio's titles their first-run streaming window on the platform. So Starz gets the exclusive, and Lionsgate keeps the whole food chain in-house.

What happens next is the more interesting question. Lionsgate Studios Motion Picture Chair Adam Fogelson told CBR that "there is a ton of incredibly entertaining Michael Jackson story" left untouched by the first film, and that sequel conversations are going "exceptionally well." That's studio-speak for: a sequel is coming. The Bad-to-Dangerous years, the '90s collapse, the comeback attempts, all of it is just sitting there waiting. Whether audiences want to follow that story into darker, more contested territory is the real question the franchise has to answer.

For now, though, August 10 on Starz. Grab some popcorn and prepare to moonwalk your way through three-plus hours of the most commercially successful biography Hollywood has made in years.

Sources cited:
- Deadline (https://deadline.com/2026/07/michael-streaming-date-1237004628/)
- Variety (https://variety.com/2026/film/news/michael-streaming-release-date-michael-jackson-starz-1236757504/)
- Decked Out Magazine (https://deckedoutmagazine.com/2026/08/01/michael-movie-streaming-starz/)
- CBR (https://www.cbr.com/michael-starz-release-date-august-2026/)
- Screen Rant (https://screenrant.com/michael-jackson-movie-starz-streaming-release-date-august-2026/)