Michael Jackson’s ‘Michael’ Surges Past ‘Oppenheimer’ Towards Billion-Dollar Box Office

Summer 2026 has been dominated by Antoine Fuqua’s biopic ‘Michael’ about Michael Jackson, surprising many studios with its success. The film debuted in April, achieving the largest opening ever for a musical biographical film, and has continued to perform strongly as it enters its ninth weekend in theaters. For Lionsgate, the story of the King of Pop has become a box office success that studios dream of but seldom achieve.

The film’s momentum is even more remarkable considering the challenges it has faced. It was released on Digital HD on June 9, a move that typically diminishes theatrical interest, and it has had to compete with World Cup viewership diverting audiences in several major markets. Nevertheless, ‘Michael’ continues to move closer to a milestone that few films, especially biopics, ever attain.

The figures from the film’s ninth weekend illustrate the resilience of its box office run. Internationally, it added a robust 11.6 million, reflecting a 39.3 percent drop due to the World Cup and the digital release drawing some viewers away, although strong performances in Japan and Russia helped mitigate the decline.

This brings the international total to 591.7 million across over 85 markets, pushing the worldwide total to approximately 959.6 million when combined with a domestic gross of 367.9 million.

These numbers indicate that ‘Michael’ is on track to surpass ‘Oppenheimer’s’ final worldwide total of 975.8 million by the end of June, making it the second highest-grossing biopic of all time, just behind Christopher Nolan’s film. The question now is not if it will reach a billion dollars, but when, with projections suggesting a final total between 1 billion and 1.05 billion.

‘Michael’ has already rewritten the history of music biopics, surpassing the worldwide total of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ earlier this month. Billboard reported that the Freddie Mercury biopic concluded its run with 216.6 million domestically and 694.3 million internationally, totaling 910.9 million globally. ‘Michael’ has comfortably exceeded that figure while also becoming Lionsgate’s highest-grossing release ever, surpassing franchise hits like ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.’

The film’s success comes despite a tumultuous path to release. Lionsgate incurred an additional 50 million in reshoots after the Jackson estate raised concerns about a clause that prevented dramatizing one of Jackson’s accusers, raising the net production cost to around 200 million. Critics had mixed reactions, but audiences have clearly embraced ‘Michael,’ propelling it to become one of the rare biopics whose box office trajectory has only accelerated as it remains in theaters.

The film’s box office triumph has also sparked interest in a potential sequel that would explore the more tumultuous aspects of Jackson’s later life. Fuqua revealed to Deadline that about a third of the footage he shot was not included in the final cut, which could serve as the foundation for that follow-up. When asked if he would want to direct it himself, Fuqua expressed his desire, humorously adding that it would be unbearable if someone else took the reins.

With Japan’s market still growing and the digital release unlikely to fully diminish the film’s theatrical appeal, ‘Michael’ seems poised to conclude its run as not only the biggest music biopic ever made but also one of the most significant box office stories of the year. What began as a music biopic with an uncertain release path has transformed into a billion-dollar phenomenon that few anticipated.

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