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Michael Jackson biopic Michael is a thriller at the box office
Michael Jackson movie Michael has shattered box office records to score the biggest opening weekend ever for a biopic.
Michael Jackson movie Michael has become a box office thriller by shattering records in its opening weekend.
Antoine Fuqua's new film Michael - which stars Jaafar Jackson as his late uncle - scored the biggest opening weekend ever for a biopic after it hit cinemas last week bringing in $97 million in North America and $120.4 million internationally for a combined total of $217 million worldwide across its opening weekend.
Michael's worldwide opening weekend total places it ahead of Christopher Nolan's blockbuster Oppenheimer - a biopic based on the life of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer with Cillian Murphy in the title role - which brought in $180.4 million worldwide during its opening weekend in 2023 while Bohemian Rhapsody - about the rise of rock band Queen - made $124 million on opening in 2018.
As well as overtaking Oppenheimer worldwide, the Michael Jackson movie also smashed the 2023 film's domestic opening weekend total with Christopher Nolan's film setting the previous North American record for a biopic by taking $82 million in its opening weekend.
Straight Outta Compton - about hip-hop group N.W.A. - made $60.2m in North America on its opening weekend in 2015 while Bohemian Rhapsody banked $51million in 2018.
Motion picture chair at Lionsgate - the studio behind Michael - Adam Fogelson told Variety: "You don’t deliver this number unless you’re seeing huge numbers across every conceivable demographic. They’re [audiences are] clearly having a blast, and that bodes well for a lovely multiple.”
Michael - which charts Michael Jackson's rise to fame - had a budget of almost $200 million with Variety reporting the hefty sum was split between Lionsgate, international distributor Universal and the Michael Jackson estate.
The film is also believed to have incurred extra costs of around $15million for reshoots after producers realised they couldn’t legally show parts of Michael Jackson's controversial history which involved allegations of child sex abuse which first emerged in1993 and haunted his later years.
The original ending is believed to have been scrapped completely with Michael now ending with the singer at the height of his fame and the main dramatic tension focusing on his turbulent relationship with his father Joe Jackson - played by Colman Domingo - who managed The Jackson Five.
Colman Domingo previously revealed the controversies which overshadowed Michael Jackson's later life and tarnished his legacy could potentially be explored in a sequel
During an appearance on the Today show, Colman explained: "The film takes place from the '60s to 1988, so it does not go into the first allegations.
"So basically, we centred it on the making of Michael. So, it's an intimate portrait of who Michael is ... through his eyes. So, that's what it is, that's what this film is ...
"And there's a possibility of there being a part two that may deal with some other things that happened afterwards. This is about the making of Michael, how he was raised, and then how he was trying to find his voice as an artist and be a solo artist.
"That's what I have to say about that." When asked if the sexual abuse allegations could be explored in a sequel, the actor replied: "There could be a sequel. We don't know yet."
