Michael has officially surpassed the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody to claim the title as the highest-grossing music biopic in history with $911.9 million at the global box office.
Lionsgate confirmed the numbers to Rolling Stone, adding that Michael has made $358 million at the domestic box office and another $553 million internationally; that total does not include this weekend’s receipts. Comparatively, the 2018 Queen movie raked in $910 million worldwide during its theatrical run while also earning its star Rami Malek a Best Actor Oscar.
Michael, which portrays Michael Jackson‘s early years with his brothers in the Jackson 5 up until his 1988 Bad tour, has been a blockbuster success despite despite negative reviews from critics and blowback over the film’s decision to not address the child sexual abuse allegations that plagued his later years.
Helmed by Training Day director Antoine Fuqua, the biopic has also triggered a surge of interest in Jackson’s back catalog, sending Thriller up to Number Seven on the Billboard 200. Jackson’s solo work work registered a career-best 137.5 million official on-demand streams for the opening week of April 24-30 in the United States, according to Billboard —146 percent from his previous career high.
The music he made with the Jackson 5 (and later the Jacksons) throughout the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties also so an upward swing, generating 10.1 million streams throughout the week, up 135 percent from the prior week.
This has all been an enormous victory for the Jackson estate, which trudged forward with the controversial film through a very troubled production, including the revelation the filmmakers were legally barred from portraying the child abuse 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.
