Michael Jackson's new biopic, Michael has accrued the largest ever box office opening for a music biopic following its recent cinema debut.
The movie which stars the late star's nephew, Jaafar Jackson, premiered last week, and has now taken in $217 million worldwide, and $97 million in the US, making it a huge commercial success, according to box office figures.
To put this into context, this marks a best start for a biopic, with Michael upstaging Straight Outta Compton, which opened to $60 million, and Bohemian Rhapsody which opened at $51 million. It has also earned the second highest film debut of 2026 so far, just behind The Super Mario Galaxy movie.
News of this comes following huge controversy, with the movie having been released amid the much publicised allegations of sexual abuse made against Jackson.
It was reported in Variety, that any footage referring to the historic allegations against Jackson was removed from the final product, including any mention of the charges of child molestation after conditions of a previous NDA were discovered. Jackson had been accusing of sexually abusing Jordan Chandler, who was 13 when the alleged offences took place.
But all references to these claims were scrapped after a previous NDA was found by lawyers for Jackson which prohibited the depiction or mentioning of Chandler in any movie. Following this, a new ending for the movie was filmed, concluding in the 1980s, prior to any allegations being made.
Michael Jackson was also found not guilty in court of another charge of child molestation in 2005, after being charged on seven counts of the offence as well as two counts of intoxicating a minor with alcohol in 2003, regarding a then 13 year old boy, Gavin Arvizo.
Despite the strong box office opening, Michael was met with largely mixed reviews, with some writers criticising the omission of the abuse allegations from the movie.
While it praised the film's use of music, The Telegraph pointed out that it "refuses to address the elephant in the room", with The Times added that it would be "known as that infamous film in which the subject became completely untethered from reality and the film delivered instead two hours of pure and unadulterated [rubbish]".
Robbie Collin of The Telegraph also called the omission of these allegations a "borderline-fatal problem".
"It is simply not credible for a film to claim to be about Michael Jackson without addressing, even obliquely, the accusations, controversies and sadness that dogged his later life," Collin said. "You don't have to dramatise these things; you should, at least, acknowledge or foreshadow them".
