Michael Jackson Biopic Michael Breaks Global Box Office Record With $217M Opening

The new musical film about Michael Jackson has stormed the worldwide box office, scoring the highest opening weekend ever for a biopic. The singer's nephew Jaafar Jackson portrays him in Michael, which has taken $217m (£160m) globally since it opened on Wednesday. But Michael also surpassed the $180m (£133m) taken by 2024's Oppenheimer, giving Michael the biggest worldwide opening weekend for a biopic of any kind. Adam Fogelson, chairman of the film's US distributor Lionsgate, said: "You don't deliver this figure unless you're seeing huge numbers across every conceivable demographic. [Audiences] are clearly having a blast." The film has gone down much better with audiences than it did with critics, several of whom complained that the film depicted a "sanitised" version of Jackson's career. The film's release follows a string of musical biopics over the last decade, which are seen by Hollywood as reliable box office hits. Michael is financially backed by the late superstar's estate and uses his original vocals for the musical numbers, which dominate the film. Michael does not include any mention of the child sexual abuse accusations that were made against the singer. Filmmakers originally intended to include references to some of the allegations, but the footage was scrapped after the rediscovery of a historic non-disclosure agreement Jackson made with one of his accusers. The third act of Michael had been due to centre on accusations made by Jordan Chandler in the 1990s, but a settlement Jackson made with the boy's family at the time included a clause that prohibited the singer's estate ever mentioning him in any movie. The film was reworked and a series of reshoots took place after the discovery, and Michael now instead concludes in 1988, before any accusations were made. Director Antoine Fuqua told Deadline over the weekend that the rediscovery of the NDA led to a "tough period" because the team had to "rethink everything". "All movies have different challenges, but this one was unique," he said, adding that the team got around the issue by refocusing on Jackson's musical career. The resulting film leans heavily on recreated concert performances and focuses on the strained relationship with his father Joseph, played in the film by Oscar nominee Colman Domingo. The costly reshoots contributed to the film's sizeable price tag, reported to be around $200m (£148m), making it one of the most expensive biopics of all time. Michael opened on the same weekend throughout most of the world, but it is still to launch in Japan, where the local distributor has scheduled a June release date.