The Michael Jackson biopic Michael has crossed the $900 million mark at the worldwide box office, putting the music biopic record set by Bohemian Rhapsody in 2018 within striking distance.
Starring Michael Jackson’s nephew/Jermaine Jackson’s son, Jaafar Jackson, as the King of Pop, Michael opened in theaters on April 24. The film, which chronicles Michael Jackson’s life and career as a 10-year-old singer (Juliano Valde) with his brothers in the Jackson Five through his teen and adult years with the blistering success of his multi-platinum albums Off the Wall and Thriller, ends with the pop icon as he begins his Bad album tour in 1998.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua from a screenplay by John Logan, Michael also stars Coleman Domingo and Nia Long as Michael Jackson’s parents, Joe Jackson and Katherine Jackson, and Miles Teller as the singer’s longtime manager, John Branca. Michael, which is still playing in 2,636 North American theaters, made its debut on digital streaming via premium video on demand on Tuesday.
After commanding $217 million at the worldwide box office in its opening frame April 24-26, Michael rolled on to earn nearly $681 million over the next six weeks to boost its global gross to nearly $898 million through June 7. The film earned another $6 million through Wednesday to up its total to $902.5 million.
After reaching the $900 million global box office milestone, Michael now has its eyes on the ultimate prize of being the highest-grossing music biopic of all time, a record currently held by Bohemian Rhapsody. Recounting the story of legendary rock band Queen and its lead singer Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek, who won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal), Bohemian Rhapsody earned $911 million at the global box office in its release.
While its taken a while to reach the film’s global box office benchmark, Michael beat Bohemian Rhapsody’s final domestic tally of $216.3 million in its 16th day of release in North America. Currently, Michael’s North American ticket sales are sitting at $357.7 million.
While business has been waning for Michael in recent weeks, the film is poised to break the record this weekend because it finally opening on Friday in Japan, where Jackson has an enormous fan base. A telling sign that Michael is going to generate crowds in Japan is that the Kenny Ortega-directed documentary Michael Jackson’s This Is It earned $57 million in 2009.
Once Michael crosses the $911 million box office mark to push Bohemian Rhapsody to No. 2 on the highest-grossing music biopic list, it will be the end of one record and the beginning of the other for Graham King, since he produced both films.
Director Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 Elvis Presley biopic Elvis is a distant third on the all-time top music biopics list with a global gross of $288 million. Director F. Gary Gray’s 2015 NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton ($201.6 million) and helmer Dexter Fletcher’s 2019 Elton John musical fantasy Rocketman ($193.5 million) round out the global top 5.
Neither ‘Michael’ Nor ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Are Critical Darlings
Apart from being the top two highest-grossing music biopics of all time, globally, Michael and Bohemian Rhapsody have another common denominator in that both films were loved by fans while being mostly panned by critics.
Michael earned a 38% “rotten” critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer, based on 294 reviews, yet rebounded with a 97% “fresh” Popcornmeter score based on 25,000-plus verified user ratings. On Metacritic, Michael earned a “generally unfavorable” Metascore of 39 based on 51 reviews yet received a “generally favorable” 7.9 User Score based on 571 user ratings.
Bohemian Rhapsody, meanwhile, earned a “fresh” critics’ score of 60% based on 417 reviews, one percentage point above “rotten” status (59% or below). Audiences, however, awarded Bohemian Rhapsody an 85% “fresh” score on the site’s Popcornmeter based on 25,000-plus verified user ratings.
On Metacritic, Bohemian Rhapsody received a “Mixed or Average” Metascore of 49, based on 50 reviews, yet earned a 7.6 “Generally Favorable” User Score based on 1,200-plus user ratings.
Rated PG-13, Michael is still playing in theaters nationwide and made is now available on digital streaming via premium video on demand.