Michael, the Michael Jackson biopic starring the pop star's nephew Jaafar Jackson, has surpassed Bohemian Rhapsody to become the highest-grossing music biopic of all time. The film crossed $911.9 million worldwide as it continues its global rollout, according to a report by Billboard.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by John Logan, the Lionsgate and Universal co-production has earned $358.6 million at the domestic box office and $553.3 million internationally. Universal generated $540.5 million of the international total after acquiring foreign theatrical and ancillary rights. The film arrived in Japan on June 14, a territory that could push Michael past $1 billion worldwide, which would make it only the second film to cross that threshold at the 2026 global box office after Universal's Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
By comparison, Bohemian Rhapsody, the Freddie Mercury biopic that won four Oscars including Best Film Editing and earned Rami Malek a Best Actor win, grossed $216.6 million domestically and $694.3 million internationally for a $910.9 million global total. Both films were produced by Graham King, meaning King has now broken his own all-time box office record for music biopics.
Michael has set a string of records beyond its overall gross. Among them are the largest global opening weekend ever for a music biopic, the highest-grossing domestic biopic of all time, and the most successful biopic ever in France, surpassing La Vie en Rose. Forty international markets surpassed Bohemian Rhapsody's lifetime gross, including Brazil, France, and Mexico. The film is also Lionsgate's highest-grossing theatrical release ever worldwide.
The road to release was not without turbulence. Lionsgate was forced to undertake $50 million in reshoots after the Jackson estate identified a key issue with a plot point in the screenplay concerning one of Jackson's accusers, who was not meant to be dramatized in the film.
Michael Jackson remains one of the most commercially successful recording artists in history. He sold an estimated 350 million records worldwide and scored 13 No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist, including Billie Jean, Beat It, and Black or White. He holds the record for the best-selling album of all time with Thriller, which has sold more than 70 million copies worldwide. Thriller spent 37 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Jackson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, once as a member of the Jackson 5 in 1997 and once as a solo artist in 2001.
Japan represents a significant opportunity for the film to cross the $1 billion mark, a threshold only one other film has reached in 2026 so far.
