Apparently MJ had a movie deal in the early 90s. Can we talk about this?

[Horrorlover656]

Mr. Jackson is now expected to turn his attention to other projects under his sweeping deal with Sony. First on the list is a movie for Sony's Columbia Pictures. Tentatively titled "Midknight," the film is an action-musical starring Mr. Jackson and based on his idea; it will be produced by Jon Peters, the former co-chairman of Columbia, and Anton Furst, who designed the dark, moody sets of "Batman." Sidney Ganis, an executive vice president of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said the film could be released in the summer of 1993.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/10/arts/pop-music-thriller-can-michael-jackson-beat-it.html

 

[StarlightXX]

Sounds interesting. Sounds like a futuristic, Batmanesque version of Smooth Criminal.

 

[BlackAnon]

Yes. The movie was to take place in New Orleans with Michael playing sort of a male Cinderella by day and by night, he secretly transforms into a singing and dancing knight at the stroke of midnight whose powers were to be exploited by an evil doctor. It was supposed to go into production the first half of 1992 in Los Angeles and distributed by Columbia Pictures but came to a halt due to Michael promoting Dangerous but Michaels name was thrown in the mix in hopes of getting financial backing.

 

[Blues_Away2023]

Wow I never knew about this!

I'm glad it never materialised tbh, it sounds awful.

I would rather he be in a serious acting role rather than this type of crap, not that it matters now.

 

[mj_frenzy]

Michael Jackson was not the type of actor that the film audience would take him seriously in his acting roles.

Filmmakers could not take him seriously as an actor as well, which explains why he was never offered serious acting roles.

For that reason, people who worked on that 'Midknight' film project decided that Michael Jackson should wear a helmet mask so as the film audience cannot recognize him:

"I think the reason we decided to do a story about a knight was that a knight usually wears a helmet mask and we wanted to cover up Michael's face because we thought a film audience wouldn't take him seriously as an actor. We ourselves had a hard time taking him seriously as an actor" (Caroline Thompson, Vice Interview)

Caroline Thompson is an American female screenwriter who wrote the 'Midknight' film.

 

[Andymachine]

I remember this very well at the time. I know he wanted to also be cast in Hook . As much as I love MJ , unlike other singers like Cher , Bette Middler, etc. MJ was not a great actor , ( in his short movies YES he was ) however as an actor in general no he wasn't and he would not have been taken seriously as one. I think however he would have been a fantastic movie director.

 

[SmoothMel7]

I was able to speak with Greg Hildebrandt.

He told me there was a script for the film and they had an idea for casting. Unfortunately Greg doesn't believe the project has reached the point of writing music.

However, there are many sketches still unpublished, and he plans to publish some on his Instagram account soon.

 

[dam2040]

There were also movie deals taking place in 2003 before everything kicked off

 

[MJsAngelOfMusic]

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/10/arts/pop-music-thriller-can-michael-jackson-beat-it.html

You might find this article about the "Midknight" film interesting as well. I would have loved to see Mike in more films.

Link to article: “Midknight” — an MJ adventure movie musical project that never came to pass. https://midnightaugustmoon.medium.c...-project-that-never-came-to-pass-cb6116f453e1

 

[Nickboi]

Yes. The movie was to take place in New Orleans with Michael playing sort of a male Cinderella by day and by night, he secretly transforms into a singing and dancing knight at the stroke of midnight whose powers were to be exploited by an evil doctor. It was supposed to go into production the first half of 1992 in Los Angeles and distributed by Columbia Pictures but came to a halt due to Michael promoting Dangerous but Michaels name was thrown in the mix in hopes of getting financial backing.

This plot synopsis and artwork are for Adam at Midnight, not MidKnight.
thanks

 

[Hot_Street]

After Thriller, you wouldn't have seen the actor in any of his film roles, but rather the singer MJ, which wouldn't have been good for the credibility of his acting - completely regardless of his abilities.

 

[BlackAnon]

This plot synopsis and artwork are for Adam at Midnight, not MidKnight.
thanks

It's MidKnight. The concept pictures are from Adam at Midnight, which is a possible connection to MidKnight.

 

[filmandmusic]

Sounds bloody awful

 

[BlackAnon]

Sounds bloody awful

Yeah this would've been awful, especially at Michaels age.

 

[blair]

There are a lot movie projects in 80's, dandy street, Peter Pan etc...but someone have given him a bad advice, to avoid fantasy movie (an horrible mistake), and later to create a Bad boy image (yes we talk about MJ) for Bad album, but the same peoples have tried to make Moonwalker movie later, yes it was chaotic.

Curiously, I really wish he would have made the Midknight movie, because I think he would have made different kind of music for the action of the movie etc...I think we can't judge the concept arts, lot of times the final result is very different.

He was supposed to make the Crow before Brandon Lee (supposed a musical) too. For his acting ability, I find that weird, he was okay in The Wiz, very good in Thriller and say, say, say, Captain Eo he was okay, but I find awful in his latter music video like Bad or Moonwalker.

I think he needed the good director in a fun project, Landis and him should have made in 80's, just after Thriller.

 

[Victorious]

There are a lot movie projects in 80's, dandy street, Peter Pan etc...but someone have given him a bad advice, to avoid fantasy movie (an horrible mistake), and later to create a Bad boy image (yes we talk about MJ) for Bad album, but the same peoples have tried to make Moonwalker movie later, yes it was chaotic.

Side question:
Did MJ ever created a bad boy image at all? I know people (want to?) see it that way but everything he did was still mostly inspired out of musicals, the same way he did since the Jacksons variety show (West Side Story, On the Bandwagon etc.)

 

[blair]

The Broadway stuff was very present too in Beat It, but yes for Bad it was clearly a choice from his team (sorry I can't find the source), I think it was the reason they have changed the first cover of the album, it was the moment the hip-hop scenes with violent text have taken the popularity, it's for that Michael have changed for something more agressive, to try to catch this public.

 

[@mjfanatic777]

ngl that's something me and my boyfriend would watch. (he loves anything action and I love MJ. best of both worlds)

 

[@mjfanatic777]

evil doctor

Dr. Doofenschmirtz..?

 

[zinniabooklover]

I was able to speak with Greg Hildebrandt.

He told me there was a script for the film and they had an idea for casting. Unfortunately Greg doesn't believe the project has reached the point of writing music.

However, there are many sketches still unpublished, and he plans to publish some on his Instagram account soon.

Greg Hildebrandt, influential artist for Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Magic: The Gathering, has died

Hildebrandt died on October 31, aged 85.

www.pcgamer.com