‘Michael’ Movie Box Office: $97M U.S. Opening, $217M Globally

In another win for a non-franchise title, Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic pulled off a moon walk for the ages at the worldwide box office with a record-smashing $97 million domestic opening and $120.4 million foreign launch for a global blast-off of $217.4 million, according to Sunday estimates.

Advertisements

Michael, coming in nearly $30 million ahead of expectations, boasts the biggest domestic opening of all time for any biopic after passing up Oppenheimer ($80 million), not adjusted for inflation. And the Lionsgate movie eclipsed Boheiman Rhapsody to rank as the top worldwide opening for a music biopic. Universal, a powerhouse on the international front, is releasing the film overseas on behalf of Lionsgate.

Heading into the weekend, producer Graham King and Lionsgate never imagined Michael had a shot at becoming the King of All Biopics in terms of its North America opening, since even the most bullish tracking showed it coming in at around $70 million. Instead, they were instead focused on breaking the record-setting bow of Straight Outta Compton and ruling the music biopic category. But by Friday night, it became clear the movie was going to approach $100 million domestically after becoming the latest title to benefit from keeping its storyline family-friendly and appealing to those who simply wanted to celebrate Jackson’s music

Source: Hollywood Reporter