Michael secured the top spot on the domestic and global box office charts this weekend.
Key Points
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The Michael Jackson biopic directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring the King of Pop's nephew, Jaafar Jackson, scored $97 million domestically and $217.3 million globally.
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Next weekend, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is gearing up to duke it out with Michael for the gold.
The King of Pop is now the king of thebox office.
Michael, Antoine Fuqua's jukebox musical biopic ofMichael Jackson, secured the top spot both domestically and globally in its premiere weekend. The film starring Jackson's nephew, Jaafar Jackson, scored $97 million domestically and $217.3 million globally, per box office tracker Comscore. That's the biggest-ever global open for a musical biopic.
Those figures represent leaps and bounds gains onMichael's closest competitors —The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which until now has been anunstoppable force at the box office, andProject Hail Mary, which has proven to possess significant legs as the weekend's bronze medaller in its sixth week of release.
The former animated offering fromNintendoearned $21.2 million domestically in week four, and $57.8 globally, for an eye-popping $831.4 million total worldwide.Ryan Gosling's space adventure, meanwhile, earned $13.2 million in the U.S. and $25.4 around the world, rocketing its global total past the $600 million threshold to $613.4 million.
Michael's success with audiences is all the more impressive, given theraft of controversyit washed ashore atop, and theoverwhelmingly negative advance reviewsit was given by critics.
Michaeldoesn't feature Janet Jackson; in fact, it doesn't even make mention of the superstar's equally iconic sister. The film ends in 1988, thereby completely eliding the sexual abuse allegations, first leveled at Jackson in 1993, that took over the second half of his career. As the film opened,new allegations were madeagainst Jackson by members of the late musician's so-called "second family."
Even all this could not restrain the fervor of fandom which still rages on for the "Thriller" singer.
Still, several other films tried their luck opening during April's final weekend at the box office.
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IFC's action-comedyOver Your Dead Bodymarks the latest fromSamara Weaving, one of 2026' most prolific stars thus far. While the film's budget was not made public, the casting of major stars like Weaving,Jason Segel, andTimothy Olyphantmake its minuscule $1.4 million domestic opening a likely cause for concern.
American Youngboy, a documentary chronicling American rapper NBA Youngboy's MASA, or "Make America Slime Again" Tour, raised $1.2 million in its opening weekend. It sounds disappointing, but is actually impressive for a documentary, which are tough sells in the theatrical setting.
As for the returning titles,Lee Cronin's The Mummycontinues to struggle with a $5.6 million second-weekend take domestically.Robert PattinsonandZendaya's dark comedyThe Dramademonstrated an impressive hold, however, with $2.6 million in its fourth weekend domestically. The film was produced on an estimated $28 million budget, and has grossed $106.8 million worldwide.
Next weekend, the world of fashion goes head-to-head with music, asThe Devil Wears Prada 2enters the arena to duke it out withMichael.
Few sequels, or reboots, or remakes have been demanded as consistently as this follow-up toMeryl StreepandAnne Hathaway's beloved 2006 comedy. The film also features returning starsStanley TucciandEmily Blunt, and has benefitted from a months-long, all-out publicity blitz.
It will also have to fend off theAdam Scotthorror offeringHokumandAaron Eckhartshark movieDeep Waterfor the box office crown.
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