Deadline has confirmed that Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic Michael is undergoing an additional 22 days of filming next month.

This all checks out with the possibility that Lionsgate may split the feature into two installments (that move not decided yet), not to mention the recent news about the biopic’s future release date move.

Lionsgate will announce a new release date in the near future, the most recent one being Oct. 3 this year. CEO Jon Feltheimer on yesterday’s earnings call said that Michael‘s move would boast a strong fiscal 2027 slate, however, that could also conceivably mean that part one of the epic could open sometime in calendar year 2026.

THR reported first about the extra 22 day shoot. According to that report, the second movie’s script still needs to be approved. Part one is rumored to end with Jackson, played by nephew Jaafar Jackson, leaving the Jackson 5 after the release of his hit solo album Off the Wall. Colman Domingo, Nia Long and Miles Teller also star.

While Lionsgate didn’t have a statement about the additional shooting days, aside from Michael currently being well over 3 1/2 hours in its first cut, the need for further production on the pic also stems from landing its third act. Michael‘s finale reportedly and originally featured a Jackson accuser, whose settlement with the singer’s estate guaranteed they would never be dramatized. The Michael Jackson estate, when greenlighting the movie, overlooked this detail.

Lionsgate has split up event movies before into Part 1 and Part 2s, i.e. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (2014 and 2015). Divergent‘s finale, based on the Veronica Roth series, was originally expected to be divided in two, read 2016’s Allegiant and Ascendant. The latter was never made as Allegiant fell greatly short at the box office with a $66M domestic take, and $179.2M worldwide.