It's a thriller!
The Michael Jackson biopic "Michael" overcame poor reviews and production problems to achieve a record-breaking opening weekend at the domestic box office. The film, which stars Jackson's real-life nephew Jaafar Jackson as the iconic singer, earned $97 million domestically in its opening weekend, according to estimates from Comscore released on Sunday, April 26.
That's easily the biggest opening weekend for a musical biopic in history. The record was previously held by "Straight Outta Compton," the 2015 movie about N.W.A that debuted with $60 million domestically. "Bohemian Rhapsody," which starred Rami Malek as Queen singer Freddie Mercury, also opened to $51 million in 2018 and went on to collect more than $900 million worldwide.
Among 2026 releases, "Michael" snagged the second-biggest opening of the year at the domestic box office, coming in behind "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" but ahead of "Project Hail Mary." Worldwide, the movie launched with an impressive $217.4 million.
"Michael" covers the King of Pop's life from the 1960s through the late 1980s, ending before he first faced allegations of child sexual abuse. According to reports from Puck and Variety, the film was originally set to dramatize Jackson being accused of sexually abusing 13-year-old Jordan Chandler in 1993, which Jackson denied, with the film depicting the singer as innocent.
