It’s official: The King of Pop has taken the crown at the box office, at least so far as musical movie biopics are concerned. “Michael,” the Antoine Fuqua-directed film centered on the late Michael Jackson, has officially overtaken “Bohemian Rhapsody” (which focuses on Freddie Mercury and the band Queen) to become the highest-grossing musical biopic ever.
As was first reported by Deadline, “Michael” has made $911.9 million in theaters worldwide as it heads into its eighth weekend. The next few days will be dominated by “Disclosure Day,” which could be Steven Spielberg’s biggest box office hit in a decade. However, it’s the music of Michael Jackson that has etched its way into the record books in an all new way. The movie’s total just barely puts it past “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which made $911 million worldwide, including its 2020 and 2026 re-releases.
“Michael” ruled the box office on its opening weekend with more than $218 million globally, including a whopping $97 million domestic debut. The biopic has proved to have legs, despite stiff competition from the likes of “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” “Obsession,” “Backrooms,” and “Scary Movie.” The summer movie season has gotten off to a hot start, but, even so, this film has chugged right along both in North America and overseas.
That success comes despite a lack of love from critics. The movie boasts a lousy 38% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with /Film’s Witney Seibold calling “Michael” an “overly-sanitized biopic of the King of Pop” in his review. However, audiences have roundly disagreed. The film’s audience score sits at 97%. It’s a crowd-pleaser.
Michael has now made its way into the box office history books
“Michael” stars Michael Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson as the late Grammy-winning artist. The movie has courted controversy, as did the real-life pop star. Indeed, “Michael” had to reshoot its entire third act amidst behind-the-scenes drama, which largely stemmed from a legal issue related to one of the people who have accused Jackson of sexual abuse. Despite that, Lionsgate, Antoine Fuqua, and all involved managed to pull together one of the biggest commercial hits of 2026.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” traveled a similarly rocky road, as director Bryan Singer (“X-Men”) was fired from the biopic and replaced by Dexter Fletcher (“Eddie the Eagle”) mid-production. Critics were similarly mixed on the end result, but, all the same, it became a global crowd-pleaser that shattered the ceiling for what a musical biopic could do at the box office. Rami Malek would even go on to win a Best Actor Oscar for his work as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.
Will “Michael” topple any other records before all’s said and done? Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” is currently the highest-grossing biopic of all time, with $975.8 million to its name. It might be a stretch, but that’s within sight if “Michael” can continue to leg out overseas. Beyond that, joining the $1 billion club would be a major stretch at this point, but it’s not off the table, either, especially if there is some sort of re-release down the road.
Meanwhile, the success of “Michael” at the box office has all but assured a sequel will happen. Lionsgate will undoubtedly make it a priority. Whether or not that follow-up can match the high highs of its predecessor remains to be seen, but that’s a conversation for another day.
“Michael” is in theaters now.
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