Welcome To The MCU (The Michael Cinematic Universe)

Before TikTok dances, before K-pop, before bedazzled streetwear became a staple of clothing racks in America, there was Michael Jackson, the man who made it all possible.

The long-in-the-making biopic, directed by Antoine Fuqua and distributed by Lionsgate, chronicles the life of Michael Jackson from his childhood in Gary, Indiana, through the formation of the Jackson 5 and into the early years of his solo career. The film stars Jaafar Jackson, the pop icon’s nephew by way of Jermaine Jackson, in his feature film debut, alongside Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson, who is portrayed as Michael’s antagonist throughout, and Nia Long as Katherine Jackson.

What emerged from the theater on Monday was a crowd emotionally full, voices singing along to memorable hits from the Jackson catalog.

“It felt like I was part of his concert,” said Sydney Michelle, an Atlanta resident who described Jackson as her “first celebrity crush.” “I had the best time. I was very surprised, very shocked.”

Michelle said one sequence in particular hit close to home. When the film recreated the Motown 25 special, she said she had to hold herself together.

“I was three when my dad showed me that on VHS,” she said. “I’m sitting in the living room, eyes glued to the TV, and my dad’s just like, ‘I’m going to show you who this man is, this Michael Jackson.’ I’ve been in awe of him ever since.”

The film, which drew significant pre-release buzz after its trailer shattered streaming records with more than 116 million views in its first 24 hours, officially opens in U.S. theaters April 24.

For many in attendance on Monday, the film was less a movie and more a rite of passage, a chance to sit with a legacy that had shaped their earliest memories of music, dance, and Black excellence.

In a city that has long served as the South’s hip-hop capital, Nuface, a historian of the genre, said Jackson’s reach into hip-hop has never really been a question.

“We are talking about fashion, we are talking about knowing what a legend is, we are talking about Black excellence,” Nuface said. “His influence in music and hip hop, it goes hand in hand.”

The film closes at the release of “Bad,” leaving room for future installments. The performances carry it. Where it earns its runtime is in the tension between father and son. Some will see Joe Jackson as a man trying to give his children what he never had, a product of his era and his circumstances. Others will not be so generous. Colman Domingo leaves little room for easy conclusions, delivering the film’s standout performance alongside Jaafar Jackson as Michael. Equally worth noting is the warmth Nia Long brings to Katherine Jackson, a quiet counterweight to the film’s harder edges.

Brothers Benny and Matthew Muyumba, both Atlanta-based creatives, made the trip out together, drawn by a shared childhood devotion to Jackson that their father first sparked.

Benny Muyumba, also known as King Imprint, said his father introduced him to Jackson through a VHS tape of his greatest hits when he was seven years old.

“I saw the zombies dancing and all that, and it just sparked something in me,” he said, referencing the “Thriller” video. “I started my dance journey from then.”

He said he came to the screening hoping the film would reignite what first drew him to creating.

“I’m hoping to get that re-inspiration,” Benny Muyumba said. “Just revamp into what made me want to get into creating in the first place. We don’t have movies anymore that just give off that vibe, for the dance culture, for the music culture. That’s what we need in this generation.”

His brother Matthew, who performs under the name Unghetto, said Jackson’s influence on his creative identity has been inescapable.

“Every time I want to move wild, I kind of think about what Michael would do?” he said. “Did Michael respond to haters? No. He just kept being great.”

Matthew Muyumba said he hoped the film would strip away the mythology and restore the man.

“He’s so big, once you get to that level, you’re kind of looked at as a robot,” he said. “I want people to see the feelings, the things in his childhood that crafted him to be how he was.”

The film arrives at a moment when Jackson’s cultural imprint continues to expand across generations, from TikTok edits to the bedazzled streetwear that saturates fashion runways and storefronts alike.

“The bedazzles in streetwear, everyone wears bedazzled now,” Matthew Muyumba said. “When Michael came and did it, it was kind of like weird, just eccentric. And now that’s regularly implemented in streetwear. Everything today derives from Michael and his ability to push and be a pioneer.”

The post Welcome To The MCU (The Michael Cinematic Universe) appeared first on The Atlanta Voice.