We’re right at one month out before the highly-anticipated Michael Jackson biopic hits theaters. As you know by now, the film stars the late King of Pop’s own nephew Jaafar Jackson in the titular role as well as other Hollywood hitters like Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Larenz Tate, Kendrick Sampson and more.
Suggested Reading
And while we still have some more weeks to go before we all collectively get our “hee-hee” on, we thought it’d be fun to break down some of the biggest musical moments you can expect to see in the film, based off the trailers. From the shooting of major music videos to pivotal points in the singer’s life, keep reading to find out more!
Michael Jackson’s Iconic “Motown 25” Performance
On May 16th, 1983 Michael Jackson took the stage as one of the performers for the televised 25th anniversary celebration of famed music label Motown: “Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever.” Though other heavy hitters like Smokey Robinson and Diana Ross were also tapped to perform, the special is most notable largely due to the fact that it was that night that MJ performed the “moonwalk” for the very first time while performing his hit song “Billie Jean.”
As noted by multiple stills and clips, it’s clear that this scene will be shown in the film and judging by this quick flash of Jaafar, it looks pretty spot on!
Michael’s “Off the Wall” Era
Though we can hear “Don’t Stop ‘Till You Get Enough” being used as one of the background songs in the official trailer and have seen a few shots of Jaafar as rocking his uncle’s famous afro during that time, we’re still not sure just how many songs from Jackson’s “Off the Wall” era we can expect to see. But seeing as how this was the late star’s first foray into solo stardom and his first solo album, there’s no doubt that this time in his life will be explored.
The “Beat It” and “Thriller” Music Videos
Now you know it wouldn’t be a true Michael Jackson film if we didn’t see some of his more famous music videos somewhere in here. Luckily for us though, the trailer does give us a look at at least two major ones: “Beat It” and “Thriller.” We’ve got to be honest: just hearing and seeing a small snippet of Jaafar as his uncle and doing the moves in both of these have us ready to stand on our feet. The resemblance is truly uncanny and the voice sounds good.
The Jacksons’ “Victory Tour”
You would be telling an incomplete story about Michael Jackson if you left out his time performing with his brothers during both his Jackson 5 days and The Jacksons days. Thankfully, both of those moments will be touched on if we’re going by what the trailer has to offer. But perhaps most excitingly of all, we’ll get to see Michael and his brothers reunite for their famous Victory Tour, that took place from July-December 1984. So I think it’s safe to expect to see some highlights from that iconic tour.
Michael Jackson’s “Bad” Tour Live at Wembley
OK, so this one is interesting. For all intents and purposes, this film looks to largely center around pre-“Bad” Michael Jackson. His time in the Jackson 5, striking out on his own, dropping “Off the Wall” and “Thriller” and some of the major happenings that took place in between. But that’s only half of half of MJ’s story. We still haven’t touched “Bad” and all the amazing performances (and controversy) that happened after that leading up to his shocking death in 2009. That leads us to believe we’ll be getting a part two which covers that soon but as a sort of pre-cursor, we’ll get to see one of his most iconic performance: “Bad” Live at Wembley Stadium in this first film at some point.
That performance took place in July 1988 at the Wembley Stadium in London and is revered as yet another iconic performance of his. Thanks to more than a handful of scenes and stills, it’s clear Jaafar is going to at least give us a little bit of that show. We can’t wait to see if and how he delivers.
“Michael” comes out April 24.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.