{"id":552356,"date":"2026-04-26T22:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T22:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/552356\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T22:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T22:53:12","slug":"michael-bows-to-217-million-globally-mario-surpasses-800-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/552356\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Michael’ Bows to $217 Million Globally, ‘Mario’ Surpasses $800 Million"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cMichael<\/a>\u201d glided to the top of the box office charts with $217 million globally, the biggest opening weekend of all time for any musical biopic.<\/p>\n

\n\tThose ticket sales include a mighty $120.4 million from 82 international markets, as well as $97 million in North America<\/a>. Despite the mostly negative reviews from critics, \u201cMichael\u201d has exceeded all box office expectations; heading into the weekend, the film about the rise of Michael Jackson was projected to earn roughly $75 million domestically and $150 million globally.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMichael\u201d cost nearly $200 million to produce after extensive rewrites to the film\u2019s third act. Lionsgate, Universal (the movie\u2019s international distributor) and the Michael Jackson estate split those expenses. Although it\u2019s one of the most expensive musical biopics of all time, \u201cMichael\u201d is already a blockbuster. Ticket sales are expected to exceed $700 million worldwide by the end of its run.<\/p>\n

\n\tPreviously, 2018\u2019s \u201cBohemian Rhapsody\u201d held the record for the largest worldwide start for a musical biopic with $122 million. That film, about the band Queen, became a massive blockbuster with $910 million by the end of its theatrical run. \u201cMichael\u201d also ranks as the year\u2019s second-biggest global debut, behind Universal\u2019s sequel \u201cThe Super Mario Galaxy Movie<\/a>\u201d with $372.5 million.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMichael\u201d got a jump on the weekend by launching on Wednesday in most foreign markets. Top territories include the United Kingdom and Ireland with $15.6 million, France with $10.1 million, Mexico with $9.7 million, Brazil with $8.2 million and Italy with $8 million. It has yet to open in Japan. <\/p>\n

\n\tAntoine Fuqua directed \u201cMichael,\u201d which explores the performer\u2019s early days in the Jackson 5 to becoming one of the biggest entertainers on the planet. Jaafar Jackson, the singer\u2019s real-life nephew, stars as Michael Jackson in his acting debut, with Colman Domingo and Nia Long portraying parents, Joe and Katherine. Some critics have knocked \u201cMichael\u201d for taking a sanitized look at Jackson\u2019s life; the story ends before the singer had faced allegations of child sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAudiences like it, but reviews are weak,\u201d says David A. Gross, who publishes the box office newsletter FranchiseRe. \u201cOverseas numbers are outstanding so far.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tElsewhere at the box office, two other films notched major milestones as \u201cThe Super Mario Galaxy Movie\u201d cleared the $800 million mark and \u201cProject Hail Mary<\/a>\u201d crossed $600 million worldwide. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMario\u201d added a notable $36.6 million from 83 foreign markets in its fourth weekend of release, boosting the overseas tally to $444 million and global total to $831 million. Meanwhile, \u201cProject Hail Mary,\u201d a space epic starring Ryan Gosling, collected a stellar $12.2 million in its sixth frame, bringing its tally to $308 million internationally and $613.3 million worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cMichael\u201d glided to the top of the box office charts with $217 million globally, the biggest opening weekend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,29683,111196,105598,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-552356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-michael","tag-project-hail-mary","tag-the-super-mario-galaxy-movie","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}