Following the release of Michael Jackson's recent biopic, a new dance trend has emerged at the screenings, which has left cinema-goers divided.
Michael, a biopic which sees the late music legend portrayed by his nephew, Jafaar Jackson, has already accrued the largest ever box office opening for a music biopic, having taken in $217million (£160million) worldwide.
This means the movie has taken in more than Straight Outta Compton, which opened to $60 million, and Bohemian Rhapsody which opened at $51 million. It has also earned the second highest film debut of 2026 so far, just behind The Super Mario Galaxy movie.
Despite this, the movie was met with largely mixed reviews, with some outlets criticising the omission of any reference to historic allegations of sexual abuse which were made against the singer. This includes any mention of the charges of child molestation after conditions of a previous NDA were discovered.
Jackson was accused of sexually abusing Jordan Chandler, who was 13 when the alleged offences took place.
Any reference to these claims were scrapped after a previous NDA was found by lawyers for Jackson which prohibited the depiction or mentioning of Chandler in any movie. Following this, a new ending for the movie was filmed, concluding in the 1980s, prior to any allegations being made.
As expected this movie includes some of Jackson's biggest hits throughout his career, which appears to have started a trend where fans get up from their seats and start dancing to the soundtrack, a trend which has left fans divided.
On social media, some fans blasted those who have been dancing at the cinema instead of washing the film, while some have even describing it as “one of the best movie-going experiences” they had.
“There’s a difference between enjoying the moment and disrupting everyone else’s experience,” one person wrote, while a third added: “I don’t want to see anything like it. As a paying customer I’d prefer to watch the movie I paid to see and not some narcissistic attention whore trying to create a viral moment".
“I was thinking about going to see Michael tomorrow in the theater, but stuff like this makes me want to watch it at home instead,” one person added, sharing footage of a fan performing one of Jackson’s routines beneath the screen. “If I pay to see a MOVIE, I don’t want to see anyone else dancing other than Michael".
However, some were less critical and stated that this trend shows people enjoying music, and stated that this added to an electric atmosphere in the cinema.
“You have zero sense of fun or humour. You have zero energy. You are all Karens now and you suck,” one person shared, defending the trend, and another praised it as making the cinema feel like “a live concert” and “a full-blown MJ revival”.
“Michael Jackson made music so ppl can dance to it,” another person chimed in on X, and someone else described it as “magical”.
what a bunch of bitch asses here in comments
You have zero sense of fun or humor
You have zero energy
You are all Karens now
And
You Suck— Guru Pundit (@GuruPundit) April 25, 2026
