At the screening of “Michael,” audience members dance in the middle of the performance – splitting the internet. The trend is turning cinema halls into an MJ revival.
The biopic “Michael” about the pop star of the same name Michael Jackson has been running in cinemas since March 22, 2026. The film polarizes and attracts a lot of attention – both positive and cautious. He often fails critics and has to put up with accusations about a flat story and a failure to shed light on the allegations that the musician was confronted with during his lifetime. The biopic only achieved a score of 35 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. At the box office, however, “Michael” performed strongly and achieved the most successful start of a music biopic of all time, grossing $217 million to date. Now a trend surrounding the film is going viral and is causing divided opinions.
Dancing cinemagoers
The film features the “King of Pop’s” greatest hits, which made millions of people dance then and now. This is now also evident during cinema screenings. A trend is currently going viral where audience members start dancing to the soundtrack during screenings.
The trend is divisive. Some appeared extremely annoyed on platforms like X and made it clear that dance performances belonged at concerts and not in cinemas. Others, however, supported the enthusiastic dancing, saying it added to what they said was an electrifying cinematic experience – some even said it made the film adaptation the best movie of their lives.
Reactions on social media
A real debate has broken out on X. “I was planning on seeing Michael in the theater tomorrow, but things like this make me want to watch the movie at home,” one person wrote, sharing a video of a fan imitating one of Jackson’s dance routines under the screen. “If I’m paying to see a MOVIE, I don’t want to see anyone but Michael dancing.”
“There’s a difference between enjoying the moment and ruining the experience for everyone else,” another agreed, while a third added: “I don’t want to see anything like that. As a paying customer, I’d rather see the movie I paid for and not some narcissistic attention seeker trying to create a viral moment.”
However, the critics also faced headwinds, and the dancing fans were defended. A counter-comment read: “You have zero sense of fun or humor. You have zero energy. You are all Karens now and you suck.” Another also defended the trend, calling such moviegoing “a live concert” and “a full-on MJ revival.”
What remains clear is that Antoine Fuqua’s work polarizes on all levels and attracts attention – from critics, fans and at the box office alike.
