<\/p>\n
NEW YORK<\/strong> \u2013 “Michael,”<\/a> the big-budget Michael Jackson spectacle, shrugged off bad reviews and a troubled production to launch with $97 million in U.S. and Canada theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday, shattering a record debut for music biopics. <\/p>\n A highly authorized portrayal of the King of Pop, co-produced by the Jackson estate<\/a>, Lionsgate\u2019s \u201cMichael\u201d far surpassed previous biopic top performers like \u201cStraight Outta Compton\u201d (a $60.2 million debut in 2015) and \u201cBohemian Rhapsody\u201d ($51 million in 2018). <\/p>\n International sales were also strong. \u201cMichael\u201d collected $120.4 million overseas, to give it a $217.4 million global opening \u2014 a new high for a music biopic. Universal picked up distribution in most international markets. <\/p>\n Even in the lucrative market of music biopics, \u201cMichael\u201d was an audacious bet by Lionsgate on an extraordinarily popular but controversial figure. The reputation of Jackson, who died in 2009<\/a> at the age of 50, has been repeatedly tarnished by allegations of sexual abuse of children. Jackson and his estate have maintained his innocence, though the pop star acknowledged sharing a bedroom with other people\u2019s children. He was acquitted in his sole criminal trial in 2005. <\/p>\n Some Jackson family members opposed the film. Janet Jackson was uninvolved and doesn\u2019t appear in it. Jackson\u2019s daughter, Paris, called it \u201cfantasy land.\u201d But three years after \u201cLeaving Neverland,\u201d<\/a> the 2009 documentary about Jackson\u2019s alleged sexual abuse of children, \u201cBohemian Rhapsody\u201d producer Graham King announced plans for the biopic. Jackson\u2019s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, was cast to star. <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cMichael\u201d had an unusually rocky production. After shooting was completed, producers realized they had made a costly mistake. The third act focused on the accusations of Jordan Chandler, then 13 years old, whom Jackson paid $23 million to in a 1994 settlement. The terms of that settlement barred the Jackson estate from ever mentioning Chandler in a movie. <\/p>\n A huge chunk of the film had to be cut. Reshoots for as much as $50 million were done at the estate\u2019s expense. Director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter John Logan reworked the movie to conclude in 1988, before any accusations were made. <\/p>\n Yet as bad as things once looked for \u201cMichael,\u201d the movie turned into a hit. The film\u2019s total production cost came close to $200 million. To defray costs, Lionsgate sold international distribution rights to Universal. A sequel, while not yet announced, is expected. <\/p>\n Critics slammed the film for glossing over some of the less convenient aspects of Jackson\u2019s life. It scored a paltry 38% on Rotten Tomatoes. But audiences were far more enthusiastic. \u201cMichael\u201d earned an \u201cA-\u201d CinemaScore. <\/p>\n The opening for \u201cMichael\u201d added to a strong spring for Hollywood boosted by box-office hits like Amazon MGM\u2019s \u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d<\/a> and Universal\u2019s \u201cThe Super Mario Galaxy Movie.\u201d<\/a> After three weeks atop the box office, the \u201cMario\u201d sequel slid to second place, with $21.2 million. It four weeks, it\u2019s collected $386.5 million domestically. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.news4jax.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NEW YORK \u2013 “Michael,” the big-budget Michael Jackson spectacle, shrugged off bad reviews and a troubled production to launch with $97 million in U.S. and Canada theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday, shattering a record debut for music biopics. A highly authorized portrayal of the King of Pop, co-produced by the Jackson estate, Lionsgate\u2019s \u201cMichael\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2390057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[405613,21741,409973,308613,457738,459661,304696,30188],"class_list":["post-2390056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-antoine-fuqua","tag-entertainment","tag-graham-king","tag-janet-jackson","tag-john-logan","tag-jordan-chandler","tag-michael-jackson","tag-u-s-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Michael-moonwalks-to-97-million-opening-shattering-record-for-music.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2390056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2390056"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2390056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2390058,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2390056\/revisions\/2390058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2390057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2390056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2390056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2390056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}