Michael, the latest in a series of music biopics, has shattered box office records just days after its cinema premiere.
First teased back in 2019, the film wasn’t officially announced until 2022, with Training Day’s Antoine Fuqua revealed as director the following year, and Michael Jackson’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, cast as the eponymous superstar.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fuqua’s biopic about the King of Pop is moonwalking to massive success. In the US, it had a projected $97 million opening, while globally, the film has been projected to gross upward of $214 million.
With those kinds of numbers, Jackson maintains his epic scale of global, mainstream success. Michael has officially achieved the biggest opening ever for a music biopic—and even surpassed the biggest US opening of all time for any kind of biopic, beating Oppenheimer, which drew $80 million in its opening.
Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Chair Adam Fogelson said of the film’s early success, “Above all, it reflects the tremendous outpouring of love and affection from moviegoers around the world, underscoring the strength and vitality of the theatrical box office. If you give audiences what they want, they will come.”
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Billboard notes that Michael—a Lionsgate film—has surpassed Universal’s Straight Outta Compton, which drew $60.1 million in the US back in 2015. In 2018, Fox’s Bohemian Rhapsody opened to a US audience that attracted $51 million.
While its opening numbers weren’t as strong as those of Straight Outta Compton or Michael, the Queen biopic is the highest-grossing music biopic of all time, earning $910 million worldwide.
The tremendous box office figures arrive despite mixed reviews from critics.
Currently, Michael sits at an unenviable 38% on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, with critics largely praising Jaafar Jackson’s portrayal of his uncle but labelling the film itself shallow and lacking in broader substance. However, the film is certified “hot” due to a 97% “Tomatometer” rating voted by fans.
While the likes of Dionar Hidalgo described the film as more of an exercise in PR than cinema, the Rotten Tomatoes site consensus notes “this musical biopic mostly plays like a ‘greatest hits’ album that could've benefitted from including liner notes to give actual insight into the icon.”
Despite divided opinions, as one may expect, the film’s premature ending results in – as Double J put it – “the laziest sequel set-up in recent memory.”
Michael is in cinemas now across Australia.
