Michael Jackson’s 1993 Super Bowl halftime show gets a documentary

Michael Jackson’s Super Bowl XXVII halftime show from 1993 is the subject of a new documentary, “Spectacle: Michael Jackson at the Super Bowl”, set to arrive on Hulu and ESPN in February 2027, according to Rolling Stone. An exact release date has not been announced.

The film is directed by Bao Nguyen, who made “The Greatest Night in Pop”, the 2024 documentary about the making of “We Are the World”. It examines the production and legacy of the performance at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, using previously unseen footage of Jackson and his team preparing, and looks at how the show set a new standard for pop spectacle at halftime.

Rolling Stone ranks the show at number 16 among Super Bowl halftime performances. It opened with a voiceover introduction by James Earl Jones, after which Jackson was launched onto the stage through a trap door and stood silent for nearly two minutes as the crowd cheered. The setlist included “Billie Jean”, “Black or White” and “We Are the World”; on that song and on the closer, “Heal the World”, he was joined by a choir of 3,000 children from the Los Angeles area.

The magazine notes that the rest of 1993 proved turbulent for the singer: in August, the Los Angeles Police Department began investigating allegations of child sexual abuse against him, and in early 1994 he settled with the accuser’s family. Jackson denied all allegations, and his estate has continued to deny them.

Michael Jackson, an American singer, songwriter, producer and dancer born in 1958 in Gary, died in 2009. His newest studio album, according to MusicBrainz, is the posthumous “Xscape” from 2014.