{"id":603593,"date":"2026-04-24T12:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T12:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/603593\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T12:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T12:30:08","slug":"michael-biopic-heads-for-huge-12m-13m-in-previews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/603593\/","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 That is one of the late Michael<\/a> Jackson\u2019s favorite expressions. It\u2019s certainly one that would resonate with the \u201cKing of Pop\u201d 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\tIn North America, Michael is on course to gross anywhere from $12 million to $13.5 million from Thursday previews and special Imax and other PLF sneaks on Wednesday night. That\u2019s on par with the likes of event pics, including 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 \u2014 how front-loaded Michael will be. One thing is clear: fans so far are over-the-moon for the film.<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier in the day, the headlines instead were focused on Michael\u2018s worrisome RT critics\u2019 score, which bounced between 29 percent and 33 percent (both fall in the \u201crotten\u201d category). Many of the reviews seemingly took issue with the fact that producer Graham Kin, 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. The 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 \u201cHis story continues\u201d does some heavy lifting,\u201d THR chief film critic David Rooney writes in its review<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

\n\tMichael is tracking to earn at least $65 million-$70 million domestically \u2014 some are now even floating $80 million \u2014 which would make it the biggest opening ever for a music biopic ahead of Universal\u2019s current record-holder Straight Outta Compton ($60.2 million) and Fox\u2019s Freddy Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody ($55 million), not adjusted for inflation. The producer behind Michael and Rhapsody is Graham King.<\/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 fo ra 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\tUK & 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 ($651,000K): 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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cDream it. See it. Believe it. Make it happen.\u201d That is one of the late Michael Jackson\u2019s favorite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2642,88,27354,27355],"class_list":{"0":"post-603593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-box-office","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-michael","11":"tag-michael-jackson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}