Michael nears $220M worldwide
- Lionsgate’s Michael opened to about $217.4 million worldwide through Sunday, with $97 million domestic and $120.4 million from 82 overseas markets. - The Antoine Fuqua film set opening records for a musical biopic worldwide and for a biographical film domestically, beating Straight Outta Compton and Oppenheimer. - The haul arrived despite weak critic scores and far stronger audience marks. (deadline.com)
Lionsgate’s Michael opened with about $217.4 million worldwide through Sunday, including $97 million in the United States and Canada. (deadline.com 1) (deadline.com 2) Deadline reported $120.3 million of that start came from 82 international markets, while Variety put the overseas figure at $120.4 million. Both outlets said the global launch set a new opening mark for a musical biopic. (deadline.com) (variety.com) In North America, the film also set a domestic opening record for a biographical movie, passing Oppenheimer’s $80 million debut. The Hollywood Reporter said Michael finished with $219 million globally after late actuals, slightly above the Sunday estimate. (hollywoodreporter.com) (deadline.com) The film stars Jaafar Jackson as his uncle Michael Jackson and was directed by Antoine Fuqua. Lionsgate lists its U.S. release date as April 24, 2026. (lionsgatepublicity.com) (tickets.michael.movie) Box Office Mojo now lists the film at $226.5 million worldwide, including $104.9 million domestic, showing how quickly the total kept rising after opening weekend. The site lists a reported production budget of $155 million. (boxofficemojo.com) The box-office surge came alongside a sharp split in reception. Rotten Tomatoes shows critics’ reviews as negative overall, while its audience summary says the film has fans “moonwalking across the globe.” (rottentomatoes.com) Metacritic lists the film with mixed reviews, reinforcing the gap between reviewers and ticket buyers that trade outlets flagged over opening weekend. Forbes reported the audience score reached the mid-90s on Rotten Tomatoes days before the full weekend numbers landed. (metacritic.com) (forbes.com) For Lionsgate, the opening gives the studio one of the year’s biggest theatrical launches from a non-franchise title. For theaters, it delivered 6.3 million admissions in North America alone, according to EntTelligence data cited by Deadline. (deadline.com) The next question is how long Michael can hold after a debut that already rewrote the record book for music biopics. Its first weekend has already moved the conversation from whether it would open big to how high the final run can go. (variety.com) (boxofficemojo.com)
