Michael

The first 10 seconds of the teaser for Antoine Fuqua’s new film _Michael _feature no music. For this biopic about the King of Pop, we open with a close up of Jaafar Jackson (cast as his uncle Michael) putting on headphones in the studio. Voiceover from Quincy Jones (played by Kendrick Sampson) makes a meta reference “I know you’ve been waiting a long time for this.” It’s true we have. This film has been in development since 2019.

At 0:10 Quincy starts recording and we hear the outro clapping groove for “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” Jackson’s opening track on his 1982 megahit record Thriller.

Though the film is about Jackson’s early years up to his breakout solo success in the 1980s, this teaser for _Michael _seems to focus in on the part of the story at the time of recording Thriller. It’s interesting how they chose to cut this trailer using the outro of “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” with its iconic “mama se mama sa mama koo sa” lyric as a musical loop over which they then reference other songs from the album. This is actually the most controversial lyric from that album, and led to a copyright lawsuit from Manu Dibango).

From 0:10-0:14 there is a clever synching of the shot cus to the beat of the song, showing close-ups of studio equipment and then cutting to black in between shots. At 0:20 we see Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles, then synched to a shot of Jackson snapping his fingers, and at 0:24 we hear the opening synth chord tone from “Beat It.” We see a card on a bulletin board with the title “Beat It.”

In an impressive linking of visual and audio storytelling, at 0:28 we see images of the Jackson family in their home (Joe Jackson is played by Colman Domingo), to show how the story started. The voiceover says “honour your past,” and we hear Jackson sing the title lyric “Wanna be startin’ somethin.’”

At 0:33 Jackson smiles while Quincy Jones is seated at the piano, and the melody of “Human Nature” rings out from the piano keys. Next up, we take a short detour from the_ Thriller_ tracklist to see and hear Jackson shooting the video for “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.”

Back to Thriller, we get a re-enactment of the iconic video for the title track at 0:37. Next up in our teaser mashup, at 0:39 the teaser brings in the bass line from “Billie Jean.”

The music cuts out at 0:48, and we’re back to the recording session with Quincy Jones and Michael from the beginning of the teaser. It’s a short 10-second pause from the rapid-fire clips from Michael Jackson’s historic career, but it gives us a moment to realize just how much Jaafar Jackson’s voice sounds like Michael’s, and reminds us of Michael’s innocent and gentle side. From 0:58-1:03 we have one more montage of Michael Jackson performing during his era as the biggest act in show business, accompanied by a dramatic descending synth tone and the roar of the crowd.

The teaser ends with the name (and film title) _Michael _being etched across a black screen in glistening gold handwriting, accompanied by the intro to “Billie Jean.”

A montage of MJ’s greatest hits was an obvious choice for the soundtrack for this teaser, done here as a mashup. Referencing melodies and riffs over top of a consistent “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” groove is subtle and smooth.

Michael is in theatres April 24, 2026. I think it will be worth the wait.

— Jack Hui Litster