Despite mixed reviews, ‘Michael’ on track to smash box office records
TheGrio...
Critics have panned the movie, while longtime Jackson fans have turned out in droves to see the story of the ‘King of Pop’ told on the big screen.
The Michael Jackson biopic is crushing expectations, just as the King of Pop himself did.
The Antoine Fuqua-directed film is now approaching a $90 million debut at the domestic box office, which would not only reset the record books for a music biopic but also easily rank among the biggest opening weekends of the year.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, ‘Michael’ is projected to take home $37 to $38 million from Friday business alone, pushing its projected three-day total to $88 million. Across the globe, given Jackson’s stature as a figure and musician, the film could surpass $180 million. It has already set single-day box office records for a biopic or musical biopic in France, Brazil, the U.K., Italy and Australia.
The current record holder for a music biopic stateside is 2015’s ‘Straight Outta Compton’ about the rise of N.W.A. That film, which debuted at No. 1, went on to gross $60.1 million during its opening frame en route to earning $161 million. In second place is the 2018 Freddie Mercury biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ That film grossed $55 million in its opening weekend, then finished its domestic run with $216 million.
‘Michael’ was already on pace to smash both of those records with an initial projected opening of $65 to $70 million. Despite critics having more questions than answers about the biopic, audiences have loved the film, according to Rotten Tomatoes, where the film has a 97 percent Audience Score, compared to a 38 percent Critics Score.
After the opening weekend fades, the question then becomes if ‘Michael’ has enough staying power for repeat viewings. In his assessment of the film, Questlove remarked that the movie gave Jackson back his “humanity” and forced him to tune out the superfan side of him that would have critiqued which factoids were right, down to sartorial choices.
“This project does the impossible: it strips away the spectacle and shows us the person. For the first time, we aren’t looking at the “THE KING”—we’re looking at a human being,” he wrote on Instagram. “It’s a side of him a lot of us seemed to forget after 1984.”