Hulu and ESPN Will Air a Documentary on Michael Jackson's 1993 Super Bowl Show

A documentary on Michael Jackson's Super Bowl XXVII halftime show will premiere on Hulu and ESPN in February next year. The film, titled Spectacle: Michael Jackson at the Super Bowl, revisits the 1993 performance at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California — a broadcast that reset the standard for what a halftime slot could be.

Director Bao Nguyen helms the project. He previously directed The Greatest Night in Pop, the 2024 documentary about the making of "We Are the World." An exact release date hasn't been announced; the film is slated to arrive sometime in February.

The production promises never-before-seen footage of Jackson and his team preparing for the performance, alongside an examination of how the show set a new template for pop spectacle at the Super Bowl.

What made the 1993 show legendary?

Jackson's set ranks Number 16 on Rolling Stone's rankings of Super Bowl halftime shows. The bar for entry is high; the list spans four decades of broadcasts.

The show opened with a voiceover introduction from James Earl Jones. Then Jackson was launched onto the stage via trap door — and stood there, silent, for nearly two minutes while the crowd cheered. Few performers could make stillness the loudest moment on the field.

The setlist leaned on the hits: "Billie Jean," "Black or White," "We Are the World." For the latter and for closer "Heal the World," Jackson was joined by a choir of 3,000 children from the Los Angeles area.

How will the film handle the context of 1993?

The halftime show was one of the high points of an otherwise tumultuous year for Jackson. In August 1993, the Los Angeles Police Department began investigating allegations of child sexual abuse against him. The family of accuser Jordan Chandler sued Jackson that September. In late December, police strip-searched Jackson and photographed and took videos of his body and genitals.

Jackson settled with the Chandlers in early 1994. He denied all allegations of sexual abuse, and his estate has continued to do so since his death in 2009.

Whether Spectacle addresses that backdrop, or keeps its lens on the stagecraft, will shape how the documentary lands when it arrives during Super Bowl season next February.