“Michael ”scores off the wall premiere, tells competitors to beat it with $217 million at global box office

Ryan ColemanSun, April 26, 2026 at 8:35 PM UTC

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Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson in 'Michael'Credit: Glen Wilson/LionsgateKey Points -

Michael secured the top spot on the domestic and global box office charts this weekend.

The Michael Jackson biopic directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring the King of Pop's nephew, Jaafar Jackson, scored $97 million domestically and $217.3 million globally.

Next weekend, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is gearing up to duke it out with Michael for the gold.

The King of Pop is now the king of the box office.

Michael, Antoine Fuqua's jukebox musical biopic of Michael Jackson, secured the top spot both domestically and globally in its premiere weekend. The film starring Jackson's nephew, Jaafar Jackson, scored $97 million domestically and $217.3 million globally, per box office tracker Comscore. That's the biggest-ever global open for a musical biopic.

Those figures represent leaps and bounds gains on Michael's closest competitors — The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which until now has been an unstoppable force at the box office, and Project Hail Mary, which has proven to possess significant legs as the weekend's bronze medaller in its sixth week of release.

The former animated offering from Nintendo earned $21.2 million domestically in week four, and $57.8 globally, for an eye-popping $831.4 million total worldwide. Ryan Gosling's space adventure, meanwhile, earned $13.2 million in the U.S. and $25.4 around the world, rocketing its global total past the $600 million threshold to $613.4 million.

Still from 'The Super Mario Galaxy Movie'Credit: Nintendo and Illumination

Michael's success with audiences is all the more impressive, given the raft of controversy it washed ashore atop, and the overwhelmingly negative advance reviews it was given by critics.

Michael doesn't feature Janet Jackson; in fact, it doesn't even make mention of the superstar's equally iconic sister. The film ends in 1988, thereby completely eliding the sexual abuse allegations, first leveled at Jackson in 1993, that took over the second half of his career. As the film opened, new allegations were made against Jackson by members of the late musician's so-called "second family."

Even all this could not restrain the fervor of fandom which still rages on for the "Thriller" singer.

Still, several other films tried their luck opening during April's final weekend at the box office.

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IFC's action-comedy Over Your Dead Body marks the latest from Samara Weaving, one of 2026' most prolific stars thus far. While the film's budget was not made public, the casting of major stars like Weaving, Jason Segel, and Timothy Olyphant make its minuscule $1.4 million domestic opening a likely cause for concern.

American Youngboy, a documentary chronicling American rapper NBA Youngboy's MASA, or "Make America Slime Again" Tour, raised $1.2 million in its opening weekend. It sounds disappointing, but is actually impressive for a documentary, which are tough sells in the theatrical setting.

As for the returning titles, Lee Cronin's The Mummy continues to struggle with a $5.6 million second-weekend take domestically. Robert Pattinson and Zendaya's dark comedy The Drama demonstrated an impressive hold, however, with $2.6 million in its fourth weekend domestically. The film was produced on an estimated $28 million budget, and has grossed $106.8 million worldwide.

Next weekend, the world of fashion goes head-to-head with music, as The Devil Wears Prada 2 enters the arena to duke it out with Michael.

Few sequels, or reboots, or remakes have been demanded as consistently as this follow-up to Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway's beloved 2006 comedy. The film also features returning stars Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt, and has benefitted from a months-long, all-out publicity blitz.

It will also have to fend off the Adam Scott horror offering Hokum and Aaron Eckhart shark movie Deep Water for the box office crown.

on Entertainment Weekly

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