'Michael' surpasses 'Bohemian Rhapsody' as top-grossing music biopic ever

'Michael,' starring Jaafar Jackson and distributed by Lionsgate , passed 'Bohemian Rhapsody' to become the highest-grossing music biopic of all time worldwide, per Deadline.People
The Antoine Fuqua-directed film opened April 24 with $217.4 million globally and has also become the highest-grossing biopic ever domestically.People+1
The film has yet to open in Japan, where analysts expect strong demand could push it toward the $1 billion mark.forbes+1

The Michael Jackson biopic "Michael" has officially surpassed "Bohemian Rhapsody" to become the highest-grossing music biopic in history, earning $911.9 million worldwide as of this week, according to People magazine citing Deadline figures. The 2018 Queen biopic, which starred Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, finished its theatrical run with approximately $910.9 million globally.People

A Record-Breaking Run

Directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Jaafar Jackson as his late uncle, the Lionsgate film opened on April 24 with a domestic haul of $97.2 million — the largest opening weekend ever for a music biopic — and $217.4 million globally. That opening nearly doubled the $51 million domestic debut of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and surpassed "Oppenheimer" for the largest global opening weekend for any biopic.The Guardian+2

The film crossed $500 million in its third weekend, reclaimed the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office in its fourth weekend with $26 million, and became Lionsgate's highest-grossing film of all time in its seventh weekend with nearly $898 million worldwide.deadline+3

The Road to $1 Billion

"Michael" has now also become the highest-grossing biopic ever domestically, surpassing both "Elvis" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the North American chart. The film still has runway ahead: it is set to open in Japan, where Michael Jackson maintained enormous popularity, evidenced by the $57 million earned there by the 2009 documentary "Michael Jackson's This Is It".Just Jared - Celebrity News and Gossip | Entertainment+3

Industry observers believe the Japanese rollout could push the film past "Oppenheimer," which earned $975.8 million worldwide as the highest-grossing biopic of any kind, and potentially toward the $1 billion milestone. The film also became available on premium video on demand starting June 9, though it continues to play in theaters.forbes+3

The achievement is all the more notable given that "Michael" drew poor reviews from critics and faced accusations of whitewashing the troubling aspects of Jackson's legacy. Both "Michael" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" share producer Graham King.The Guardian+3

Sources (24)