Michael Jackson biopic 'Michael' soars with $1B on Box Office

Michael Jackson’s biopic Michael surpassed the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody to claim the title as the highest-grossing music biopic in history.

The film about Michael Jackson is nearing a box office milestone of $1 billion after adding another $38 million globally in its eighth weekend of release. The musical biopic starring Jaafar Jackson has generated $932.2 million worldwide to date. If the ticket sales keep climbing and surpass $975 million, Michael will overtake Oppenheimer as the highest-grossing biopic of all time.

Filmmakers claimed they were legally barred from portraying the allegations brought against Jackson by accuser Jordan Chandler. The entire third act was reshot as a result, and the biopic’s release was pushed back by nearly a year. In other news of appreciation for the Jackson estate, the film has triggered a surge of interest in Jackson’s back catalogue, sending Thriller back up to Number Seven on the Billboard 200.

The blockbuster biopic has also boosted the estate’s coffers by propelling the music made by the Jackson 5 (later the Jacksons) throughout the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s to record-setting heights.

Michael, which portrays Jackson’s early years with his brothers in the Jackson 5 up until his 1988 Bad tour, has been a blockbuster success despite negative reviews from critics and blowback over the film’s failure to address the child sexual abuse allegations that marred his later years.