Proving itself as 2026’s box office hot topic, Antoine Fuqua’s musical biopic, Michael, has broken another box office record after this weekend.
Thanks to a domestic gross of $371 million and an international one of $629 million (an extra $250,000 in domestic gross this weekend), box office reports share that Michael has finally hit the $1 billion milestone, $847 million-$802 million over its initial budget of $155 million-$200 million.
The film stars Jaafar Jackson and Juliano Valdi in the titular role, alongside Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Miles Teller, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Jessica Sula, and Mike Myers, who narrate the rise of the King of Pop as he breaks free from his father’s grip to become a global superstar.
“Reaching this extraordinary $1 billion milestone with Michael is a deeply humbling moment that celebrates the tireless dedication of our incredible producers, cast, crew, and partners,” the director shared upon the milestone being hit. “This achievement belongs to everyone who came together with a shared vision to honor one of the greatest artists the world has ever known.”
“I am profoundly grateful to the audiences around the globe who embraced this film, showed up in theaters, and connected with this story across generations and cultures,” Fuqua added. “This historic milestone is a testament to the enduring power of cinema to bring us together, and it is a chapter in movie history I will never forget.”
Fuqua’s film has hit milestone after milestone since its April release, such as the best opening weekend performance for a musical biopic in the UK, becoming the highest-grossing musical biopic (both beating Bryan Singer’s Bohemian Rhapsody’s $12.2 million and $910 million respectively), Lionsgate’s highest-grossing release (beating Francis Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’s $865 million) and becoming the highest-grossing biopic ever made (beating Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer’s $976.8 million.)
Michael is now also the second highest-grossing release of 2026 and is catching up to Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s $101.1 billion.
Additional box office news sees Disney losing out with their live-action remake of 2016’s animated Moana. The film, which sees the voice cast members reprise their roles from the original, centred on a chief’s daughter restoring a mystical relic, could cost the studio around $100 million-$125 million due to its poor opening box office performance of $95 million, with the film just grossing $43 million in domestic sales and $52 million internationally. The Moana remake came with a budget of $250 million, meaning it underperformed globally by a total of $155 million.
The original animated adventure film grossed a total of $678.2 million from international sales of $438.4 million and domestic sales of $248.7 million. Meanwhile, the 2024 sequel grossed $1 billion globally from a combined total of $460.4 million domestically and $598.8 million internationally. #
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