Every box office record the Michael Jackson biopic has broken

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The new Michael Jackson movie was a massive success during its opening weekend, earning over $200 million globally and setting a new record for music biopics.

Before its release, the Michael Jackson movie faced controversy. Paris Jackson publicly disapproved of it, and the director of the documentary Leaving Neverland criticized the film for omitting accusations of sexual abuse against the singer.

Critics didn’t like the movie, giving it a low score of 38% on Rotten Tomatoes. This led Michael’s nephew, Taj, to publicly defend the film and criticize the journalists who wrote the negative reviews.

Despite some negative press, Michael Jackson fans clearly weren’t deterred, giving the film a remarkable 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. This strong positive reaction led to a very successful opening weekend at the box office.

Michael scores biggest opening weekend ever for a music biopic

The movie Michael earned $97 million in the United States and $217 million globally during its opening weekend.

This is the biggest opening weekend ever for a music biopic in the United States, surpassing the previous record held by Straight Outta Compton (2015) and even beating the hugely successful Bohemian Rhapsody (2018). Here’s a comparison of their opening weekend numbers:

  • Michael: $97 million
  • Straight Outta Compton: $60 million
  • Bohemian Rhapsody: $51 million

Straight Outta Compton earned $201 million worldwide in theaters, but Bohemian Rhapsody significantly outperformed it, bringing in a total of $910 million globally.

Michael managed two more milestones early in its run:

  • Second biggest opening weekend of 2026 (behind The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s $131 million launch).
  • Lionsgate’s biggest opening weekend in a decade (since The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, which opened to the tune of $102 million in 2015).

Early audience reactions, as reported by Variety, were very positive – giving the movie an A- grade. This suggests strong word-of-mouth and a good chance it will perform well in theaters for weeks to come.

You can now see Michael in theaters. If you’re interested in music biopics, check out our list of the best ones here. You can also find details about the box office success of Project Hail Mary and The Super Mario Bros. Movie here.

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2026-04-27 12:48