‘Michael’ smashes box office record despite controversy

Michael, the new musical film about Michael Jackson has stormed the worldwide box office, scoring the highest opening weekend ever for a biopic.

The singer's nephew Jaafar Jackson portrays him in the biopic which has taken 217million dollars globally since it opened on Wednesday.

Queen musical Bohemian Rhapsody, which launched with 124million dollars in 2018 and starred Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, previously held the box office record for a musical biopic.

But Michael also surpassed the 180million dollars taken by 2024's Oppenheimer, giving Michael the biggest worldwide opening weekend for a biopic of any kind.

Adam Fogelson, chairman of the film's US distributor Lionsgate, said, "You don't deliver this figure unless you're seeing huge numbers across every conceivable demographic. [Audiences] are clearly having a blast."

The film has gone down much better with audiences than it did with critics, several of whom complained that the film depicted a "sanitised" version of Jackson's career.

Reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes recorded a significant gap between the 38% average score awarded by critics, and the 97% average rating from audiences.

The film's release follows a string of musical biopics over the last decade, which are seen by Hollywood as reliable box office hits.

Queen, Sir Elton John, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Amy Winehouse, NWA, Robbie Williams and Whitney Houston have all received the cinematic treatment in recent years.

Michael does not include any mention of the child s*xual abuse accusations that were made against the singer.

Jackson always maintained his innocence, and was found not guilty of child molestation in 2005.

Filmmakers originally wanted to include references to some of the allegations, but the footage was scrapped after the rediscovery of a historic non-disclosure agreement Michael Jackson made with one of his accusers.