Approaching 17 years after his death, Michael Jackson is still a main point of conversation on social media, in the music industry, and now, in movie theaters. The new biopic Michael has quickly become one of the most popular and talked about movies of this year. This movie achieved a record-breaking opening weekend, grossing $218.8 million worldwide. 

Directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Jaafar Jackson (Michael Jackson’s nephew), the film follows Michael’s story to being a child star in Jackson 5 to becoming one of the most famous independent performers. Jaafar Jackson especially is getting a lot of attention and praise for his performance. Despite the performance, the movie itself is receiving a lot of controversy. Many watchers argue that this movie strictly explores Michael’s achievements and fails to include past scandals he has been through.  

To gather more opinions on the movie, I interviewed Alexis Hogan, who attends C. Milton Wright and has recently watched the new film. When asked about her main takeaways from the movie, she said “I believe that this movie was a great way to retell Michael Jackson’s story, especially for a younger audience who may not be familiar with him.” When asked about the accuracy of the casting, she stated “I believe that Jaafar was a great person to play Michael. I think that not only he did a great job, but it was interesting that he is actually related to him.” When asked if she would recommend the movie, she said “I would definitely recommend the movie to fans of Michael and anyone who is interested in his past.” 

Although the movie has received some controversy and mixed reactions considering it leaves out past allegations Michael received, I believe this biopic is a great way to reflect on Michael Jackson’s legacy. Michael Jackson’s impact has shaped the music and pop culture we are surrounded with today.