The Michael Jackson biopic is doing blockbuster business, but its biggest off-screen plot twist may now be contractual.
Nia Long, who plays Jackson family matriarch Katherine Jackson in Michael, is reportedly in a dispute with Lionsgate over her salary after a contract clause allegedly promising she would not be paid less than her supporting co-stars was not honored.
According to a Puck News report, later shared by DiscussingFilm on X, Long is threatening to take the studio to mediation over the discrepancy. Mediation is a private dispute-resolution process, usually used before a fight escalates into something more public and expensive. In Hollywood terms, it is the room everyone would rather enter before lawyers start enjoying themselves too much.
Representatives for Long and Lionsgate have been contacted for comment.
The reported dispute
Long, 55, rose to prominence with Boyz n the Hood in 1991 and later played Beullah “Lisa” Wilkes on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. In Michael, she stars opposite Colman Domingo, 56, who plays Michael Jackson’s father, Joseph Jackson.
The film marks Jaafar Jackson’s feature debut as his late uncle, tracing Michael’s rise from his years in The Jackson 5 in the 1960s through to the Bad tour in the late 1980s.
The reported issue centers on Long’s contract. Puck says her deal included language ensuring she would not be paid less than her supporting castmates. The final version of the film reportedly gives Long less screen time than Domingo, a two-time Oscar nominee, but the original script is said to have included a larger role for her.
That matters because screen time, billing, and contract language can all collide when a film changes shape in post-production. In this case, the changes were not minor.
Reshoots changed the film, and allegedly Long’s role
Michael was directed by Training Day filmmaker Antoine Fuqua and produced by Graham King, whose credits include Bohemian Rhapsody. The supporting cast also includes Miles Teller as Michael Jackson’s manager and attorney John Branca, along with Laura Harrier and Juliano Krue Valdi.
The production reportedly underwent major reshoots, with $15 million spent after the film’s third act was reworked. References to the child sexual abuse allegations against Jackson were reportedly removed, and some of Long’s scenes are said to have been cut as part of that overhaul.
The original version of the story was reportedly designed to end on a darker note by addressing the molestation allegations Jackson faced. That plan changed after attorneys reportedly found a clause in a previous settlement involving Jordan Chandler, one of Jackson’s accusers, that prohibited any mention or depiction of him in the biopic.
As a result, the ending was re-filmed. The version now in cinemas reportedly leaves room for a second installment covering Jackson’s later years and albums.
That possible sequel raises a practical question for Lionsgate: if the studio wants Long to return as Katherine Jackson, it may need to repair the relationship first.
Big box office, sharp criticism
Whatever is happening off-screen, Michael has become a major commercial hit. The film has grossed $278 million worldwide, making it the fifth highest-grossing film of 2026. It also scored the biggest opening weekend for a musical biopic in history.
The box office has not quieted criticism of the film’s approach to Jackson’s legacy. Jackson, who died in 2009, denied allegations of child sexual abuse throughout his life. In 2005, he was found not guilty of molesting a boy after a high-profile trial.
The allegations returned to public attention in 2019 with the documentary Leaving Neverland, which featured detailed interviews with two men who said Jackson abused them when they were boys.
Dan Reed, who directed Leaving Neverland, told The Times in 2024 that he had seen a version of the Michael script and described it as a “complete whitewash,” saying it rewrote and dismissed the allegations.
After the biopic premiered, Reed again criticized the way audiences have responded to Jackson. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he called Jackson “a very nasty man” who “hurt a lot of children.” He added: “And he may have been a great entertainer, but those two things don’t cancel each other out.”
What the film does, and does not, cover
The film does address parts of Jackson’s life and image, including his vitiligo, his insecurity about his nose, his plastic surgeries, and the Pepsi commercial accident that left him with second-degree burns.
Critics, however, have argued that it stops short of a full portrait. Metro’s Tori Brazier wrote that the film leans heavily on Jackson’s music, with extended performances of songs including “I Want You Back,” “Who’s Lovin’ You,” “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough,” “Thriller,” “Billie Jean,” and “Bad.” She singled out “Human Nature” as a moment where Jaafar Jackson captures the performer’s rare movement and star quality, while also noting that the film can feel more like a daytime TV movie in its heavier emotional scenes.
The central criticism remains that the movie covers Jackson’s rise while leaving the later accusations outside the frame.
Domingo and Long addressed that issue during an appearance on Today. Domingo said “the film takes place from the 60s to 1988,” which is why it “does not go into the first allegations.”
Asked how he reconciled appearing in the film at a time when survivors of sexual abuse are taken seriously, Domingo said: “So basically we centre it on the makings of Michael, so it’s an intimate portrait of who Michael is.”
“Through his eyes,” Long added.
Domingo continued: “So that’s what it is. That’s what this film is. And there’s a possibility of a part two that may deal with some other things that happened afterwards.
“This is about the making of Michael, how he was raised and then how he was trying to find his voice as an artist and be a solo artist. And then, the movie. That’s what I have to say about that.”
For now, Michael is a rare thing: a bruising critical flashpoint and a box-office winner at the same time. Long’s reported pay dispute adds another complication to a franchise Lionsgate may still want to extend.
