{"id":10547,"date":"2026-04-27T17:58:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T17:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/michael-film-box-office\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T17:58:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T17:58:00","slug":"michael-film-box-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/michael-film-box-office\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Michael\u2019 Smashes Records At Worldwide Box Office"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2020\/12\/GettyImages-88688373-1631206955-scaled.jpg\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1772\" alt=\"\"><figcaption>Michael Jackson in 1986 (photo: Kevin Mazur \/ WireImage).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In a major win for an original, non-franchise release, Antoine Fuqua\u2019s Michael Jackson biopic <em>Michael<\/em> dominated the global box office in its debut frame, delivering a massive $97 million opening weekend domestically and $120.4 million overseas for a worldwide total of $217.4 million.<\/p>\n<p>The film came in nearly $30 million ahead of projections and its domestic haul sets a new record for the biggest opening ever for a biographical film, surpassing <em>Oppenheimer<\/em>\u2019s $80 million debut (not adjusted for inflation). Globally, it also overtook Queen\u2019s <em>Bohemian Rhapsody<\/em> to claim the top opening weekend for a music biopic.<\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/madonna-sabrina-carpenter-single\/\">Madonna, Sabrina Carpenter Spread \u2018Love\u2019<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/lizzo-new-album\/\">Lizzo Pivots For First LP In Four Years<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/noah-kahan-rolling-stone-festivbal\/\">Noah Kahan Playing Rolling Stone\u2019s Debut Festival<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Directed by Antoine Fuqua and backed by Lionsgate, <em>Michael<\/em> also marks the studio\u2019s strongest debut since the pandemic and ranks among its top six openings of all time. Internationally, where Jackson\u2019s appeal remains especially strong nearly 17 years after his death, the film launched in 84 markets, setting new genre benchmarks in dozens of territories including the U.K., Germany, France, and Brazil. Distributor Universal Pictures is handling the film overseas.<\/p>\n<p>Heading into the weekend, industry projections had <em>Michael<\/em> opening closer to $70 million domestically. But strong turnout quickly signaled broader appeal beyond core fans, driven in part by the film\u2019s family-friendly approach and focus on Jackson\u2019s music. A third act detailing the sexual abuse allegations that derailed Jackson\u2019s career was filmed but later scrapped for legal reasons, with reshoots costing a reported additional $10-15 million. The final production budget was said to be in the $200 million ballpark.<\/p>\n<p>Despite lukewarm critical reception (it presently has a 40% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes), attendee response has been overwhelmingly positive. Exit polling shows a 97% audience score on the platform, along with strong PostTrak ratings in the low 90s and an A- CinemaScore.<\/p>\n<p>Demographically, <em>Michael<\/em> drew a notably wide audience. While Black moviegoers made up the largest share at 38%, the film also attracted 26% Latino and 26% white audiences. Age-wise, turnout spanned generations: roughly half of ticket buyers were between 18 and 34, while audiences over 35 made up a nearly equal portion. Notably, older moviegoers \u2014 a group that typically skips opening weekends \u2014 showed up in significant numbers.<\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/spinmagazine.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Jackson in 1986 (photo: Kevin Mazur \/ WireImage). In a major win for an original, non-franchise release, Antoine Fuqua\u2019s Michael Jackson biopic Michael dominated the global box office in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1437,6,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-michael-jackson","category-news","category-pushly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}