Why 'Michael' is Gonna Be Startin' Summer 2026 A Week Early

Lionsgate and Universal borrow a page from the MCU playbook to get their “first biggie of summer” designation without opening on a date occupied by ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ and ‘Animal Friends.'

I’ve argued for the last two months that Lionsgate should move the recently delayed Michael to the May 1 slot and make it the 2026 summer kickoff flick. That “starting pistol slot” was left tentpole-free after Disney delayed Avengers: Doomsday to December 18, 2026, swapping it with The Devil Wears Prada 2. Well, Lionsgate kinda-sorta took my advice, announcing on Wednesday evening that the Antoine Fuqua-directed Michael Jackson biopic will open domestically (courtesy of Lionsgate) and globally (courtesy of Universal) on the week of April 24, 2026. So, yes, in a manner of speaking, the sure-to-be-controversial (and almost certainly sure to be a global box office titan) Jaafar Jackson-starring music-skewing biopic is indeed appointing itself as the summer kickoff flick. It’s just doing so one week earlier than expected. Yes, late April can “count” as summer.

Every Marvel film that started the summer season in the 2010s, from Iron Man 2 ($623 million globally) in 2010 to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($869 million) in 2017, began its global box office run a week or two before its domestic release. That includes Sony’s non-MCU The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($709 million) in 2014. Similarly, Fast Five ($620 million) opened domestically on April 29, 2011, a week before the eventual $449 million-grossing Thor. Both films opened overseas before their domestic releases. Marvel tried something different in 2018 and 2019, launching Avengers: Infinity War ($2 billion) globally during the week of April 27, 2018, and Avengers: Endgame ($2.7 billion) during the week of April 26, 2019. The King of Pop biopic is indeed being positioned as the proverbial Avengers: Infinity War of summer 2026.