Spike Lee Has No Time for ‘Michael’ Critics, and the Box Office Agrees With Him
Spike Lee is stepping into the ring for ‘Michael,’ and he is not pulling any punches. The legendary filmmaker spoke to CNN this weekend to defend Lionsgate’s blockbuster Michael Jackson biopic against critics who have taken issue with its decision not to address the abuse allegations that shadowed the pop icon later in life. Lee made clear that he has seen the film twice, loved it both times, and thinks the criticism fundamentally misreads what kind of movie this is.
Lee’s central argument is straightforward: the film ends in 1988, and the first allegations against Jackson did not surface publicly until 1993, making it logically impossible for those events to appear within the story’s chosen timeline.
As he put it in his CNN interview, critics are judging the film on something they want included that simply does not fit the narrative architecture the filmmakers chose to build. It is a pointed rebuke, and coming from someone with a decades-long professional relationship with Jackson, it carries real weight.
Lee and the King of Pop had a well-documented creative partnership. Lee directed Jackson’s 1996 music video for “They Don’t Care About Us” and later helmed two documentaries celebrating his legacy, including “Bad 25” and “Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall.” During the CNN interview, Lee also opened up personally, saying he misses both Jackson and Prince, describing them as brothers he had the privilege of working alongside.
What many critics may not fully appreciate is just how much the film’s ending was shaped by circumstances beyond the filmmakers’ control. The biopic originally wrapped in 2024, but production was set back when the Jackson estate cited a legal clause in a settlement with the Chandler family that prevented their son Jordan from being depicted or mentioned in any commercial project.
The reshoots, which cost an additional $15 million on top of an already $155 million budget, were required to remove a finale involving a police investigation at Neverland Ranch and shift the dramatic focus toward Jackson’s fraught relationship with his father.
The critical reception has been deeply polarized, with ‘Michael’ sitting at a 37 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes while audiences have rewarded it with an extraordinary 97 percent rating. That gap tells a story of its own.
The film debuted to $97.5 million domestically on its opening weekend and has since crossed $423 million globally through just two weekends in theaters. Those numbers make it the highest-grossing music biopic since “Straight Outta Compton” in 2015.
With the story’s first chapter now complete, filmmakers are reportedly considering a sequel that would allow them to explore more of Jackson’s life in later years. Whether that follow-up would finally tackle the controversy head-on remains to be seen, but for now, ‘Michael’ is a cultural juggernaut with a passionate global audience behind it and one of Hollywood’s most respected voices loudly in its corner.
Let us know in the comments whether you think Spike Lee makes a fair point or whether the film should have found a way to grapple with Jackson’s full legacy.
