Michael sets record $217 million biopic opening worldwide, despite mixed reviews

Michael opened with $217.4 million worldwide and about $97 million in the United States and Canada, a debut that made it the biggest global opening ever for a biopic and the biggest domestic opening ever for a music biopic. Overseas markets added about $120.4 million, turning Lionsgate’s gamble into an instant commercial triumph even as the debate around Michael Jackson’s legacy hardened.

The film, directed by Antoine Fuqua and produced by Graham King, stars Jaafar Jackson as his uncle and follows Michael Jackson from early childhood through his death. Lionsgate’s own materials say the story covers both his public rise and his private struggles, a broad canvas that helped fuel expectations for a prestige event release. Instead, the opening weekend became a test of whether audiences still separate Jackson’s music, iconography and celebrity from the controversies that defined the later years of his life.

Critics largely did not. Reviews were mixed to sharply negative, with many arguing that the film softened or sidestepped the abuse allegations and other darkest chapters of Jackson’s story. Early Rotten Tomatoes tallies reflected that divide, with roughly 40 percent approval from critics and about 96 percent from audiences. The split captured a familiar Hollywood fault line: critics weighing accountability and omission, while audiences showed far more appetite for the spectacle, the nostalgia and the performance.

That tension was sharpened by reports that the Jackson estate financed reshoots costing as much as $15 million to remove child-abuse allegations from the film. Paris Jackson publicly questioned the spending and the role of estate lawyer and producer John Branca, while estate representatives pushed back. Reports also said the estate has a financial stake in the movie, adding another layer to a release that is as much about control of memory as it is about box office.

The numbers still mattered first. Michael surpassed the previous biopic global opening record set by Oppenheimer, which debuted to $174 million worldwide in 2023, and it also overtook Straight Outta Compton’s domestic record for a music biopic. For Lionsgate, the result was a major win. For the industry, it was another reminder that controversy does not always suppress demand, especially when a familiar catalog, a famous name and a large-scale theatrical rollout line up at the same moment.