Lionsgate’s big-budget Michael Jackson spectacle, “Michael,” opened with $97 million in U.S. and Canada theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday, while the film’s $120.4 million overseas haul pushed its global opening to $217.4 million. The numbers shattered the record debut for music biopics and showed, once again, how a corporate entertainment machine can turn a deeply contested public figure into a revenue stream.
Who Gets Paid, Who Gets Used
The film far surpassed previous biopic top performers like “Straight Outta Compton,” which had a $60.2 million debut in 2015, and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which opened to $51 million in 2018. Universal picked up distribution in most international markets, extending the reach of the project across the globe. The opening also arrived with a production budget and marketing push that made the film a major financial gamble for the studio apparatus, not a modest cultural offering.
Adam Fogelson, Lionsgate chairman, said, “From the beginning, all of the signals were that something like this was possible,” and added, “We were seeing massive engagement with every conceivable audience segment that you could identify.” He also said, “I would take issue with the idea that we as a studio or as filmmakers were running around in a panic,” and said, “It was definitely a unique and challenging circumstance to figure out how to work through. But it created an opportunity to tell more story than any one film could possibly contain.” Fogelson said, “The audience spoke loud and clear,” and added, “The portion of Michael’s life that this story tells couldn’t have gotten into those allegations because the allegations themselves hadn’t happened in the period this movie existed. I think the audience is judging it on those terms. We’ll see what happens as we move into the possibility of subsequent films.”
The Estate, the Studio, and the Sanitized Story
The film was described as a highly authorized portrayal of the King of Pop, co-produced by the Jackson estate. That authorization mattered. It shaped what could be shown, what could be cut, and what could be sold. Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50, and his reputation had been repeatedly tarnished by allegations of sexual abuse of children. Jackson and his estate maintained his innocence, though he acknowledged sharing a bedroom with other people’s children. He was acquitted in his sole criminal trial in 2005.
Some Jackson family members opposed the film. Janet Jackson was uninvolved and does not appear in it. Jackson’s daughter, Paris, called it “fantasy land.” Three years after “Leaving Neverland,” the 2009 documentary about Jackson’s alleged sexual abuse of children, “Bohemian Rhapsody” producer Graham King announced plans for the biopic. Jackson’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, was cast to star. The project was never just a movie; it was a managed narrative, assembled through family conflict, corporate calculation, and the power to decide which parts of a life are marketable.
What the Money Bought
The production was unusually rocky. After shooting was completed, producers realized they had made a costly mistake because the third act focused on the accusations of Jordan Chandler, then 13 years old, whom Jackson paid $23 million to in a 1994 settlement. The terms of that settlement barred the Jackson estate from ever mentioning Chandler in a movie. A huge chunk of the film had to be cut, and reshoots for as much as $50 million were done at the estate’s expense. Director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter John Logan reworked the movie to conclude in 1988, before any accusations were made.
The film’s total production cost came close to $200 million. To defray costs, Lionsgate sold international distribution rights to Universal. A sequel is in development, and Fogelson said a third film after that is “not inconceivable.” Critics slammed the film for glossing over some of the less convenient aspects of Jackson’s life. It scored 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences were more enthusiastic, giving it an “A-” CinemaScore.
Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Comscore, said, “It’s only human nature to enjoy yourself at the movie theater,” and added, “The movie was perfectly positioned ahead of the start of the summer movie season which launches later this week with the ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ that is also poised to outpace even the most generous opening weekend projections.”
The opening for “Michael” added to a strong spring for Hollywood boosted by box-office hits like Amazon MGM’s “Project Hail Mary” and Universal’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” After three weeks atop the box office, the “Mario” sequel slid to second place with $21.2 million. In four weeks, it collected $386.5 million domestically and $445 million internationally. Meanwhile, “Project Hail Mary” surged past $600 million worldwide in its sixth weekend of release, with a total haul for Amazon MGM of $305.3 million domestic and $613.3 million globally.
The top 10 movies by domestic box office were: 1. “Michael,” $97 million; 2. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” $21.2 million; 3. “Project Hail Mary,” $13.2 million; 4. “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy,” $5.6 million; 5. “The Drama,” $2.6 million; 6. “Hoppers,” $1.9 million; 7. “You, Me & Tuscany,” $1.5 million; 8. “Over Your Dead Body,” $1.4 million; 9. “Mother Mary,” $1.2 million; 10. “American Youngboy,” $1.2 million.