‘Michael’ Opens to a Record $97 Million, the Biggest Debut Ever for a Music Biopic

Michael did what no music biopic has done before. Lionsgate’s film about the King of Pop opened Friday (April 24) to $97 million domestically and $217 million worldwide, the best start ever for a biopic, per Variety. It beat the previous music-biopic record, Straight Outta Compton’s $60 million in 2015, and left 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody, which opened to $51 million, far behind.

It is also the second-biggest debut of 2026, behind only The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and Lionsgate’s biggest hit in more than a decade. Tracking a month ago had it at $50 million to $60 million. Deadline’s Sunday update has 6.3 million people watching it in North America alone, more than the 4.9 million who turned out for Project Hail Mary in March.

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The reviews are the catch. Variety notes only 38% of critics’ reviews on Rotten Tomatoes were positive, while audiences gave it an A- CinemaScore. Critics have complained that the film is a sanitized look at Jackson’s life because it leaves out the child sexual abuse allegations made against him later in his career. Variety reports the screenplay originally dramatized a 1993 lawsuit, but those scenes had to be removed after producers found a clause in the settlement that barred depicting the accuser, and the film now ends during the Bad tour in 1988. Billboard says the film is the first installment of a planned two-part biopic.

Lionsgate’s Adam Fogelson read the weekend as proof the film works for everyone:

You don’t deliver this number unless you’re seeing huge numbers across every conceivable demographic

Adam Fogelson, motion picture chair, Lionsgate, Variety

Michael (2026) Official Trailer – Jaafar JacksonLionsgate Movies · Watch on YouTube ↗

Antoine Fuqua directed, and the singer’s real-life nephew, Jaafar Jackson, plays Michael in his acting debut, with Colman Domingo and Nia Long as Joe and Katherine Jackson. The story runs from the Jackson 5 to a solo career that, per Billboard, peaks with the release of Thriller. Like Bohemian Rhapsody and Elvis before it, Variety says, the film won over audiences by recreating thrilling concert sequences, including “Billie Jean,” “Thriller” and “Beat It.”

That helped on big screens. IMAX brought in $24.4 million worldwide, including $13.8 million from 427 North American screens, the format’s biggest opening for a musical biopic, and almost 40% of the domestic gross came from IMAX and other premium large-format screens, Billboard says. Audiences skewed 61% female, and 66% were 25 or older, per Variety’s PostTrak figures.

The film cost close to $200 million, split among Lionsgate, Universal (which handles the international release) and the Michael Jackson estate, and Deadline reports the North American marketing spend at around $50 million, with stunts like “Don’t Walk, Moonwalk” flash mobs in 20 markets and an HBCU marching-band initiative. Next up: Deadline has the film heading for roughly $50 million in its second weekend, which it will spend up against The Devil Wears Prada 2.

Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.