Michael’ Movie Breaks Box Office Records With $217 Million Global Opening

The biopic of Michael Jackson, was released on Friday, April 24, 2026, earning $97 million in its domestic opening and $217.4 million globally. The film’s opening performance is the highest-grossing opening weekend for a musical biopic in history, surpassing ‘Oppenheimer,’ which held the previous record with $180M. It also outperformed previous music biopics such as ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ which opened with $124M in 2018, and ‘Straight Outta Compton,’ which earned $60.2M in its opening weekend.

The film directed by Antoine Fuqua was based on the life of the pop star. It follows Michael Jackson’s rise in the music industry, moving through important stages of his career from breakthrough to global stardom.

Jaafar Jackson: Getty Images

In the film, he was portrayed by his nephew Jaafar Jackson along with other stars like Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson and Nia Long as Katherine Jackson, while Juliano Krue Valdi played Younger Michael Jackson.

For Lionsgate, the release marks its best opening in years, surpassing its previous high set by The Hunger Games. The chairman of Lionsgate, Adam Fogelson, spoke with Associated Press saying “From the beginning, all of the signals were that something like this was possible. We were seeing massive engagement with every conceivable audience segment that you could identify.”

Jaafar Jackson: Getty Images

Despite the criticism by fans and some members of the Jackson family including Janet Jackson and Paris Jackson who were reported to be unsupportive, previously referring to the film as “Fantasy Island.” The film currently holds a 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and received an A grade on CinemaScore.

Jaafar Jackson: Getty Images

The film “Michael “ is financially backed by the late king of pop’s estate and features his original vocals across most of its musical sequences. It opened in several markets on the same weekend globally, though it is yet to be released in Japan, where distribution is scheduled for June.