{"id":628464,"date":"2026-04-24T19:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/628464\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T19:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:14:11","slug":"michael-biopic-heads-for-huge-12m-13m-in-previews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/628464\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Michael’ Biopic Heads for Huge $12M-$13M in Previews"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cDream it. See it. Believe it. Make it happen\u201d was one the late Michael<\/a> Jackson\u2019s favorite expressions. It\u2019s certainly one that would resonate with the King of Pop were he around for the opening of Antoine Fuqua\u2019s long-awaited biopic of Jackson<\/a> in theaters across the globe this weekend.<\/p>\n

\n\tMichael soared to a huge $12.6 million in Wednesday and Thursday previews, putting it on course to open to $70 million-plus domestically, the top start ever for a music biopic. The preview number includes $3.8 million from special Imax and other PLF sneaks Wednesday night. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe preview gross is on par with the likes of Dune: Part II or Oppenheimer, which both reported preview grosses in the $10 million range, not adjusted for inflation.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe big unknown is how front-loaded Michael will be. One thing is clear: fans so far are over-the-moon for the film, which boasts a 96 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Thursday, headlines focused on Michael\u2018s worrisome RT critics\u2019 score, which bounced between 29 percent and 33 percent. Many of the reviews seemingly took issue with the fact that producer Graham King, along with Lionsgate, had decided to end the movie before Jackson became engulfed in allegations of child sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFuqua\u00a0and screenwriter\u00a0John Logan\u00a0don\u2019t exactly break the mold with\u00a0Michael, nor do they stuff it with major revelations. But they tap into a vein of melancholy underlaying the stratospheric success that\u2019s surprisingly affecting,\u201d THR chief film critic David Rooney writes in its review<\/a>. \u201cThe online mob will be sharpening their pitchforks given the movie\u2019s failure to address the accusations of child sexual abuse that tarnished\u00a0Michael Jackson<\/a>\u2019s legacy. But the filmmakers get around that by focusing on his early career, ending with the 1988\u00a0Bad\u00a0World Tour concert in London, years before allegations first surfaced. The epilogue card reading \u2018His story continues\u2019 does some heavy lifting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBy Thursday night, the critics score had risen to 40 percent.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs of now, the top music biopic opening belongs to Universal\u2019s Straight Outta Compton ($60.2 million), followed by Fox\u2019s Freddy Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody ($55 million), not adjusted for inflation. King also produced Rhapsody.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen the film first came on tracking three weeks ago, the range was $55 million to $60 million. While still a great number, the subsequent spike signals that Michael may be benefiting from the nostalgia factor that is inspiring infrequent moviegoers to return to the multiplex in droves for the first time since the pandemic, or sparking interest among the most avid moviegoing demo, Gen Zers.<\/p>\n

\n\tOverseas, Michael is opening in 82 markets, excluding Japan. It unfurled in most key markets on Wednesday, earning $16.6 million for a running total of $18.5 million, including previews.<\/p>\n

\n\tInternational Wednesday highlights included:<\/p>\n

\n\tFrance ($2.6 milion): Biggest opening day ever for a biopic, coming in well above the Wednesday openings of both\u00a0Oppenheimer\u00a0and\u00a0Bohemian Rhapsody.<\/p>\n

\n\tU.K. & Ireland\u00a0($2.6 million):\u00a0Biggest opening day for a musical biopic of all time, ahead of the Wednesday opening of\u00a0Bohemian Rhapsody\u00a0and well above the Friday openings of Elvis\u00a0and\u00a0Rocketman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tItaly\u00a0($1.3 million): Biggest opening day ever for a musical biopic, above\u00a0Bohemian Rhapsody.<\/p>\n

\n\tAustralia ($1 million): Biggest opening day for a musical biopic ever, beating\u00a0Elvis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBrazil ($651,000): Michael\u00a0added another $651,000 in previews for a running total of\u00a0$2 million. The combined preview result represents the biggest ever for a non-superhero, non-franchise film in the market. It continues to rank No. 1, with a 68 percent market share.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis story was originally published April 24 at at 1:58\u00a0a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cDream it. See it. Believe it. Make it happen\u201d was one the late Michael Jackson\u2019s favorite expressions. It\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,5604,134,19927,19928,136],"class_list":["post-628464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-box-office","tag-entertainment","tag-michael","tag-michael-jackson","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}