Key Takeaways

  • The Michael Jackson biopic just crossed $977 million worldwide, officially becoming the highest-grossing biographical film in history.
  • Jaafar Jackson, MJ’s actual nephew, gives a genuinely impressive debut performance that even the film’s harshest critics couldn’t dismiss.
  • Critics gave it 38% on Rotten Tomatoes while audiences rated it 90% on PostTrak — and the billion-dollar box office says audiences won this argument.

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Nearly a billion dollars. Let that sit for a second.

The Michael Jackson biopic “Michael” just crossed $977 million worldwide as of this week, officially claiming the title of highest-grossing biographical film in history. It passed Bohemian Rhapsody ($911M). It passed Oppenheimer. It passed every “based on a true story” movie ever made. This thing is on a different level entirely.

And I am here for it.

The Box Office Numbers Are Insane

When the film opened on April 24, it pulled in $97 million domestic on its opening weekend and $217 million globally. That’s not a slow build. That’s not a word-of-mouth hit that sneaks up on you. That’s a full-on cultural event from day one.

It’s now Lionsgate’s highest-grossing film of all time. It beat The Hunger Games. It beat everything in that studio’s entire history. And it’s still running in theaters nine weeks later.

This summer has been legitimately great for movies (we talked about Avatar: Fire and Ash landing on Disney+ after its huge run in our earlier coverage), but Michael is the undisputed story of 2026 at the box office.

The official trailer for Michael (2026), directed by Antoine Fuqua

Jaafar Jackson Is the Real Deal

Here’s the thing critics and audiences actually agreed on: Jaafar Jackson is genuinely impressive. This is his film debut. He had never been in a movie before this, and he’s carrying a nearly three-hour biographical film about his own uncle. The pressure on that kid was astronomical.

But he delivers. The physicality is there. The voice is there. Watching him recreate performances from the Bad World Tour is genuinely startling. There are moments where you forget you’re watching a performance because he disappears into it that completely.

Director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer) knows how to make things look good on screen, and the concert sequences in this film are where that shows. The production design for the Motown era Jackson 5 scenes is meticulous. The Bad era staging is electric.

For a debut performance, this is extraordinary. Whatever happens with the film itself, Jaafar Jackson has a career if he wants one.

Critics vs. Everyone Else

Rotten Tomatoes has this sitting at 38%. Critics called it “sanitized,” and honestly, that’s a fair criticism. The film covers MJ’s life from his Jackson 5 days through the Bad World Tour and largely sidesteps the abuse allegations that have defined public conversation about Jackson since Leaving Neverland dropped in 2019.

That’s a real thing to wrestle with. If you’re making a comprehensive biography of Michael Jackson and you’re glossing over the most controversial chapters of his life, you’re choosing to tell a partial story. Critics noticed. A lot of people noticed.

But audiences? PostTrak has it at 90% positive. CinemaScore gave it an A-. That gap between 38% critics and 90% audiences is one of the widest splits of the year.

My take: both sides have a point. Yes, the film is incomplete as biography. But people didn’t buy tickets expecting a documentary. They came for the music, the dancing, and Jaafar Jackson doing the moonwalk in IMAX. On those terms, the movie delivers. And the $977 million says the audience voted with their wallets.

Why MJ Never Actually Left

There’s something the box office numbers are saying that nobody wants to say out loud: Michael Jackson’s cultural hold on the world is still completely intact.

Bohemian Rhapsody hit $911 million and it felt like a massive Queen rediscovery moment. This film is blowing past that and doing it faster. We’re talking about an artist who has been dead for 17 years and whose name has been genuinely complicated in public discourse for the last six of those years. And the movie about his life is closing in on a billion dollars.

I grew up with Thriller, Off the Wall, Bad. That music is hardwired into anyone who came of age in the 80s or got raised on their parents’ record collection. It cuts across everything. Age, taste, geography, doesn’t matter. Put Billie Jean on at any party in the world and something happens.

For the generation that knows MJ more from TikTok than actual concert footage, this film clearly hit different. They’re watching it and discovering for the first time what the hype was always about. And then they’re texting their friends and going back for another viewing.

That’s not a manufactured result. That’s legacy doing what legacy does.

If you haven’t seen it yet, Michael is still in theaters. It’s worth the IMAX ticket just for the concert sequences alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is “Michael” (2026) still in theaters?

As of late June 2026, yes. Michael is still playing in theaters nine weeks after its April 24 release date, continuing to pull in global audiences. It shows no signs of disappearing from screens anytime soon given its performance.

Who plays Michael Jackson in the 2026 biopic?

Jaafar Jackson, Michael Jackson’s actual nephew, plays the King of Pop. It’s his film debut, and he brings remarkable physicality and screen presence to the role. Critics who panned the film largely still praised his performance as one of the year’s best debut turns.

How much money has the Michael Jackson biopic made?

As of the week of June 30, 2026, Michael has grossed approximately $977.5 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing biographical film in history. It surpassed Oppenheimer for that title and is Lionsgate’s highest-grossing release ever.

Does the Michael Jackson biopic address the abuse allegations?

Not in any meaningful way. The film covers MJ’s life from his Jackson 5 childhood through the Bad World Tour in the late 1980s and largely sidesteps the allegations that arose from the Leaving Neverland documentary. This was the central criticism from reviewers who found the film too sanitized.

What do audiences think of Michael (2026)?

Audiences have been overwhelmingly positive. PostTrak scores show 90% positive audience sentiment, and CinemaScore gave it an A-. This represents one of the biggest critic-to-audience divides of the year, with the general public clearly responding to what the film does well regardless of what it chooses to skip.