Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic Michael has made history at the global box office, surpassing Oppenheimer to become the highest-grossing biopic of all time. The Lionsgate release hit $977.4 million worldwide in its tenth weekend, edging past Christopher Nolan’s $975.8 million record, which Oppenheimer built over a 123-day theatrical window and an Oscar season run that included seven wins, among them Best Picture and Best Director.
Michael accomplished the feat on a significantly shorter 46-day theatrical window to PVOD.
The film added $9.2 million globally this past weekend, with $905,000 coming domestically and the remainder driven largely by its ongoing run in Japan through Kino, where Lionsgate holds a co-partnership deal. Running domestic total stands at $370.2 million, with $607.2 million earned internationally. Universal, which handles foreign distribution in most markets, has tabulated $559.7 million of that figure. The film is still playing theatrically in Japan and Russia.
The milestone caps a record-breaking run that already saw Michael become the highest-grossing music biopic ever, surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody’s $911 million worldwide lifetime gross, and Lionsgate’s highest-grossing release of all time, topping The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The film opened to $97.2 million domestically, the largest opening weekend ever for a music biopic, shattering the record set by Straight Outta Compton in 2015.
Directed by Fuqua and written by John Logan, the film traces Michael Jackson’s life from his early days with The Jackson 5 through his rise as the King of Pop. Jaafar Jackson, the singer’s real-life nephew, stars in the title role alongside Colman Domingo and Nia Long as Joe and Katherine Jackson, with Miles Teller, Laura Harrier, Larenz Tate and Mike Myers also appearing. The film is produced by Graham King, John Branca and John McClain.
The road to release was not without turbulence. Lionsgate was forced into $50 million in reshoots after the Jackson estate flagged an issue with Logan’s original screenplay involving one of Jackson’s accusers. The film ultimately opened to an A- CinemaScore despite mixed critical reception, with strong word of mouth sustaining its run deep into the summer moviegoing season. Critics noted the film takes a sanitized approach to Jackson’s life, omitting the child sexual abuse allegations made against him, a decision that allowed Lionsgate to market the film around its crowd-pleasing concert recreations and music video sequences.
Michael is now available on premium digital and PVOD, with a physical media release on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD arriving July 14. A sequel is currently in development. If the film crosses $1 billion worldwide, it will become only the second film to do so in 2026, joining Universal and Illumination’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie.