‘Michael’ Moonwalks Toward $500M Globally

Photo Credit: Lionsgate

Lionsgate’s Michael is poised to cross $500 million worldwide in its third weekend, an astounding milestone for a biopic that was predicted to flop. But what’s next?

The King of Pop is on everyone’s minds more than 15 years since his passing, with the Antoine Fuqua-directed biopic Michael dazzling moviegoers to record-breaking numbers for two weekends in a row now. Heading into its third weekend, Michael is projected to cross the $500 million threshold worldwide.

Starring Jermaine Jackson’s son (and Michael Jackson’s nephew) Jaafar Jackson in the title role, Michael hit the ground running in its opening weekend with $217 million worldwide, followed by a second weekend of nearly $135 million.

At the midway point this week, Michael had earned nearly $195.2 million domestically and $246 million internationally for a total of $441.2 million worldwide. That means the film is well on its way to cross that half-a-billion mark after the weekend.

Michael was ousted from its top spot at the box office last weekend with the debut of The Devil Wears Prada 2, while Mortal Kombat II comes in this weekend as a formidable opponent—but the Jackson biopic is still expected to earn $30 million in North America and $50 million abroad.

Now, the bigger questions remain: when will Michael top Bohemian Rhapsody? The film still has a few hundred million to go, but crucially, this is only the first part of the story, with a Michael Part 2 almost certainly in the cards for Lionsgate.

Meanwhile, Jackson’s extremely lucrative catalog is only becoming more valuable, easily surging after the biopic’s opening weekend. But the broader IP surrounding Michael’s—and the Jackson family’s—catalogs remains a topic of discussion.

To wit, this was already the most valuable catalog for a single artist in history, but will this sudden growth stick permanently? If so, that’s major validation for the fairly recent model of investing heavily in burnishing an artist’s legacy with film, whether Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, or Bob Marley.