Michael moonwalks to $217m opening weekend, shattering box office records for a biopic | Michael Jackson
Big-budget Michael Jackson biopic Michael put aside poor reviews and a troubled production set to open with a $97 million opening in North American cinemas, contributing to a whopping $217 million (£160 million, A$303 million) worldwide box office, breaking the record for the biggest biopic opening of all time.
Co-produced by the Jackson estate and starring Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson, the film, a supremely competent portrayal of the “King of Pop,” grossed $120.4 million internationally and $97 million domestically; that surpasses Oppenheimer’s $180.4 million worldwide opening weekend in 2023 and Bohemian Rhapsody’s $124 million in 2018.
The film is now released in much of the world; a notable exception is Japan, which is home to a large Jackson fan base and will be released in June.
Michael’s $97 million domestic debut also exceeded this figure Records set by previous biopics in North AmericaThey include Oppenheimer ($82 million in 2023), Straight Outta Compton ($60.2 million in 2015) and Bohemian Rhapsody ($51 million in 2018).
Critics criticized Michael for ignoring some inconvenient aspects of Jackson’s life, but audiences were much more enthusiastic: Rotten Tomatoes’ critic score is 38%, while the audience rating is 97%.. A few weeks ago, estimates for Michael’s opening weekend in North America were closer to $50 million, but that rose to $70 million, which was extremely overperforming.
“All the signals from the beginning were that something like this was possible,” Lionsgate chairman Adam Fogelson told the Associated Press. “We were seeing huge engagement across every conceivable audience segment you could identify.”
Even in the lucrative market of music biopics, Michael was made an audacious bet by Lionsgate on a controversial figure. Jackson, who died in 2009 at the age of 50, had his reputation repeatedly tarnished by allegations of child sexual abuse. Jackson and his estate maintained his innocence, but the pop star admitted to sharing his bedroom with other people’s children. He was acquitted in his only criminal trial in 2005.
Some members of the Jackson family opposed the film: Her sister Janet Jackson was not involved and does not appear in the film; Jackson’s daughter Paris described the film as “fantasy land”.
The film also had unusually heavy-handed production. After filming was completed, the producers realized they had made a costly mistake. The third act focused on the accusations of then-13-year-old Jordan Chandler, for whom Jackson paid $23 million in a 1994 settlement. The terms of this agreement prohibited the Jackson estate from mentioning Chandler in a film.
Much of the film was cut and reshoots costing up to $50 million were undertaken at the estate’s expense. Director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter John Logan reworked the film to finish it in 1988 before any accusations were made.
“I object to the idea that we are rushing in panic as a studio or as filmmakers,” Fogelson told the AP on Sunday, calling it instead a “unique and challenging situation.”
But no matter how bad things looked for Michael, the movie was a huge hit. The total production cost of the film approached 200 million dollars. Lionsgate sold international distribution rights to Universal to cover costs. A sequel is in development. Fogelson said a third film after this was not “unthinkable.”
Director Antoine Fuqua said he would like to direct the sequel. I say deadline on Sunday: “If anyone else had done it, they would have killed me.”
Fuqua added that the cut footage could be re-evaluated when filming went “pretty far along”: “We looked into the Jordan allegations that we couldn’t use. We went further than that. Maybe a year or two from now (1995), when the tables turned against Michael.”
Plans for Michael were first announced in 2012, three years after the release of Leaving Neverland, a 2019 documentary about Jackson’s child sexual abuse allegations. Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed It was said recently The Guardian: “I’m kind of appalled that anyone can ignore the fact that this guy is a bit of a monster.”
Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody remains the highest-grossing music biopic of all time after grossing $910 million at the global box office, while Oppenheimer holds the overall biopic record with $975 million.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
