The Michael Jackson biopic has hauled $217 million in its global weekend debut

Michael Jackson famously sang in his 1982 hit, “You wanna be startin' somethin’” — and if that somethin’ is the late star’s eponymous biopic, that start is to the tune of $217 million.

In its global debut over the weekend, “Michael” stormed to the top of the worldwide box office after notching $97 million in three days in North America and a further $120 million across up to five days of release overseas. That marks the biggest opening weekend ever for a biopic of any kind, beating the previous record held by Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” which grossed ~$180 million in its opening weekend.

Not only this, but “Michael” has rocked the box office to already become the third highest-grossing musical biopic of all time, per figures from Box Office Mojo, earning only $72 million less than Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” has since it was released in 2022... in just five days.

Combining a list of the musical biopics with the highest worldwide grosses compiled by Billboard with Box Office Mojo data, “Michael” is still some way off the ~$911 million lifetime gross seen for 2018’s Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but it's off to a smooth start.

Regardless of whether the movie maintains its momentum in months to come, “Michael” now boasts the second-largest global debut of the year so far (behind the staggering ~$373 million five-day global debut for “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie”) and an opening figure that’s larger than sum of opening weekend grosses for six of the top 10 highest-grossing musical biopics ever.

Gloves are off

While “Michael” has now been released in most theaters around the world, one notable exception is Japan, where the movie will open in June. As pointed out by The Guardian, the Asian nation has a massive MJ fanbase, which will likely give the film’s global box office takings a mid-year boost.

Despite a dramatic production — complete with lawsuits, reshoots, and a heap of family conflict — and a pretty dismal critical reception, “Michael” appears to have, at least for now, won audiences, over in keeping with the trend for biopics about music’s best-loved artists.

Looking at Rotten Tomatoes scores for the top 20 highest-grossing musical biopics, per Billboard, the Popcornmeter (audience score) is consistently positive. However, only eight of these films would qualify as “Certified Fresh” in terms of scores from critic reviews (above 75% positive ratings on the Tomatometer).

Moviegoers who’ve splashed out to see their idol’s life story are probably more inclined to say they enjoyed the movie in the first place — and if, therefore, box office figures are a better temp-check for audience sentiment, “Michael” seems to be crushing it.

Last October, after the Springsteen biopic’s disappointing takings, we noted that the big-star-origin-story genre could be cooling down. But with MJ’s music already climbing up the charts, the stars might be aligning for another back catalog resurgence this summer.