Michael opens to $97 million

Lionsgate’s Michael opened to $97.2 million in North America, giving the Michael Jackson biopic the biggest domestic debut ever for a music biopic. (variety.com) (boxofficemojo.com) Variety reported the film also launched with $217 million globally, while Deadline put the worldwide opening at $217.4 million, with $120.4 million coming from 82 international markets. (variety.com) (deadline.com) Antoine Fuqua directed the film, which stars Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson and was released domestically on April 24 after opening in several overseas markets earlier that week. (boxofficemojo.com) (variety.com) The opening cleared the previous domestic high-water marks for music biopics, topping Straight Outta Compton’s $60 million start and Bohemian Rhapsody’s $51 million debut. (variety.com 1) (variety.com 2) Deadline said the international rollout also set a new opening benchmark for a musical biopic in like-for-like markets, ahead of Bohemian Rhapsody’s $79.9 million offshore start. (deadline.com) Box Office Mojo listed Michael with a $155 million production budget and showed early top overseas openings including $15.6 million in the United Kingdom, $9.7 million in Mexico and $8.1 million in Brazil. (boxofficemojo.com) The film arrived after a choppy production that included additional photography and revised box office tracking. Deadline had projected a $55 million-plus domestic opening earlier this month, then raised that to roughly $95 million by opening weekend. (deadline.com 1) (deadline.com 2) For Lionsgate, the result gives Michael an opening weekend on the scale studios usually reserve for franchise films, not adult-skewing music dramas. The next question is whether it can sustain the kind of long run Bohemian Rhapsody turned into a $910 million worldwide finish. (variety.com)