‘Michael’ Rocks Box Office With Record-Setting $97 Million Debut

By Rebecca Rubin

Rebecca Rubin

Senior Film and Media Reporter

Latest

• Box Office: ‘Michael’ Moonwalks to $12.6 Million in Previews, Beating ‘Project Hail Mary’ for Biggest of the Year 2 days ago
• ‘Murder, She Wrote’ Movie With Jamie Lee Curtis Delayed to 2028 3 days ago
• ‘Michael’ Kicks Off With Strong $18.5 Million at International Box Office 3 days ago

There’s a new box office king.

“Michael,” a biopic about the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, arrived in theaters as an instant sensation with $97 million domestically and $217 million globally in its first weekend of release. These ticket sales rank as the best start of all time for a biopic, smashing the record set by 2015’s “Straight Outta Compton” ($60 million). And they tower above 2018’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which opened to $51 million before obliterating expectations with $910 million worldwide by the end of its run. “Michael” also notched the second-biggest debut of the year behind April’s sequel “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ($131 million).

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