The Michael Jackson biopic Michael has officially become the highest-grossing music biopic of all time, surpassing the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody with $911.9 million at the global box office.
The Numbers
Lionsgate confirmed that Michael earned $358 million domestically and another $553 million internationally, narrowly edging past the 2018 Queen film’s $910 million worldwide haul. Forty international markets surpassed Bohemian Rhapsody‘s lifetime gross, including Brazil, France and Mexico.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by John Logan, the Lionsgate and Universal co-production has been a runaway success domestically — it’s now the highest-grossing domestic biopic of all time and the most successful biopic ever in France, surpassing La Vie en Rose.
A Shared Producer
Interestingly, Graham King produced both films, helping Bohemian Rhapsody earn four Oscars including Rami Malek’s Best Actor win, meaning King has now broken his own all-time box office record for music biopics.
The Film and Its Star
Michael depicts the life of Michael Jackson, from his early involvement with the Jackson 5 in the 1960s up through the Bad World Tour in the late 1980s, with Jackson’s real-life nephew Jaafar Jackson taking on the title role.
The reception was split between critics and audiences: the film earned just a 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, while the audience popcornmeter score came in at 94%.
Records Along the Way
The film racked up several milestones beyond the overall total, including the largest global opening weekend ever for a music biopic. It’s also part of a select 21-film club with the longest domestic streak above $1 million daily, at 48 days.
It wasn’t a smooth road to release — Lionsgate had to undertake $50 million in reshoots amid controversy before the film’s debut. The movie may not be done climbing either: its release in Japan could push Michael past $1 billion worldwide, making it only the second film to cross that threshold in the 2026 box office after Universal’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
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