Michael Jackson Biopic Box Office Outgrosses Almost All Of 2026’s Biggest Movies In One Weekend
The global debut of Michael is off the wall.
The record-shattering Michael Jackson biopic, which debuted on April 24, was directed by Antoine Fuqua and stars the King of Pop’s real-life nephew Jaafar Jackson in the title role opposite an ensemble cast that includes Nia Long, Miles Teller, Laura Harrier, Mike Myers, and Colman Domingo. In spite of the fact that Michael has drawn controversy over its sunny depiction of the star, with no mention of the allegations of child sexual abuse that first arose in 1993 and came to a head following his 2009 death, the movie has already become a tremendous box office success.
Side A · 33⅓ RPM How Well Do You Know Michael Jackson’s Music? “Who’s Bad?”
🧟Thriller‘Cause this is thriller
💎Billie JeanShe’s just a girl
⚡Beat ItJust beat it
🕺MoonwalkMotown 25
🎩BadShamone!
01
Released in November 1982, Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. The producer behind its glossy fusion of pop, funk, rock and disco had already worked with Michael on Off the Wall and would return for Bad. Who is he?
✓ Correct! Quincy Jones — Michael met him on the set of The Wiz (1978), and Jones went on to produce the trio of albums that defined Michael’s solo career: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982) and Bad (1987). Thriller has sold more than 70 million copies worldwide. George Martin produced The Beatles. Berry Gordy ran Motown. Rod Temperton wrote the title track but didn’t produce.
✗ Off the beat. The answer is Quincy Jones. George Martin was The Beatles’ producer. Berry Gordy founded Motown and signed the Jackson 5 but wasn’t behind the boards on Thriller. Rod Temperton wrote the title track “Thriller” (plus “Rock with You” and “Off the Wall”) but it was Quincy Jones who produced all three of Michael’s adult-era masterpieces.
02
On May 16, 1983, NBC aired the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever special. Dressed in a sequined jacket and single white glove, Michael unveiled the moonwalk to the world during a solo performance of which song?
✓ Correct! Billie Jean. After performing Jackson 5 hits with his brothers, Michael took the stage alone for a lip-synced “Billie Jean” and glided backwards across it — a move he’d been refining from street dancers and mime technique. Motown 25 became one of the most-watched TV specials of the 80s and cemented Michael as the biggest solo star on the planet.
✗ Off the beat. The answer is Billie Jean. “Rock with You” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” are from Off the Wall. “Beat It” is on Thriller but wasn’t the Motown 25 solo number. It was “Billie Jean” — mime-walked, glove-flashed, and watched by an estimated 47 million Americans live.
03
Long before Thriller, an eleven-year-old Michael fronted his brothers on the Jackson 5’s first Motown single — a bouncing piece of bubblegum soul that hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1970. What was the song?
✓ Correct! “I Want You Back” — released October 1969, written by The Corporation (Berry Gordy and his in-house team) and topping the Hot 100 by January 1970. The Jackson 5 then did something no act had done before: their next three singles (“ABC,” “The Love You Save,” “I’ll Be There”) also all hit #1, giving them four straight chart-toppers to start their career.
✗ Off the beat. The answer is “I Want You Back.” “ABC,” “The Love You Save,” and “I’ll Be There” were the group’s next three singles — each also hit #1, making them the first act ever to see their first four Motown releases top the Hot 100. But “I Want You Back,” from October 1969, was the one that broke them.
04
Thriller’s genre-smashing rock crossover “Beat It” features a blistering guitar solo recorded as a favour to Quincy Jones — reportedly for a case of beer, with no pay and no credit on the original sleeve. Which rock legend played it?
✓ Correct! Eddie Van Halen — Van Halen were touring when Quincy Jones phoned. Eddie dropped by Westlake Studios, cut two takes for free (and, yes, allegedly a case of beer), and was so uncredited on the first pressings that fans didn’t realise it was him. The solo helped “Beat It” become a smash on MTV and rock radio at a time when black artists rarely crossed that line.
✗ Off the beat. The answer is Eddie Van Halen. Slash played on Michael’s later song “Black or White.” Jimmy Page is Led Zeppelin. Prince was famously offered the duet on “Bad” but turned it down. Eddie Van Halen’s “Beat It” solo — recorded in a single afternoon, uncredited, supposedly paid in beer — is one of the most famous guitar solos in pop history.
05
In January 1985, Michael co-wrote the charity single “We Are the World” for USA for Africa — recorded in a single overnight session with 46 superstars after the American Music Awards. Which fellow soul icon shared the writing credit with him?
✓ Correct! Lionel Richie — the two wrote the song in about a week, with Quincy Jones producing. Harry Belafonte had the original idea, Ken Kragen organised the session, and a handwritten studio sign told arriving superstars to “Check your egos at the door.” It sold over 20 million copies and won four Grammys including Record and Song of the Year.
✗ Off the beat. The answer is Lionel Richie. Stevie Wonder sang on the record and helped in the studio but didn’t co-write it. Paul McCartney collaborated with Michael on “The Girl Is Mine” and “Say Say Say,” not this one. Smokey Robinson wrote at Motown. Richie and Jackson wrote “We Are the World” together in about a week, with Quincy Jones producing.
06
Released in December 1983, the nearly 14-minute “Thriller” short film — with its werewolf cold open, red leather jacket and graveyard zombie choreography — changed the music video forever. Which filmmaker directed it?
✓ Correct! John Landis — Michael had loved Landis’ 1981 horror-comedy An American Werewolf in London and specifically asked him to direct. Special-effects maestro Rick Baker handled the werewolf/zombie makeup, Vincent Price delivered the iconic rap at the end, and the making-of documentary became one of the best-selling VHS tapes ever. Scorsese later directed “Bad.” Bob Giraldi directed “Beat It.”
✗ Off the beat. The answer is John Landis — fresh off 1981’s An American Werewolf in London, which is why Michael picked him. Scorsese would direct the “Bad” video four years later. De Palma didn’t do a MJ video. Bob Giraldi directed “Beat It.” Landis also made the 35-minute making-of special that turned into a home-video sensation.
When Bad arrived in August 1987, Michael didn’t just follow Thriller — he set a Billboard record that no album had achieved before. What was the milestone?
✓ Correct! Five #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 — a first for any album. The run: “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” (with Siedah Garrett), “Bad,” “The Way You Make Me Feel,” “Man in the Mirror,” and “Dirty Diana.” Bad also launched Michael’s first world tour as a solo artist and featured the Martin Scorsese-directed title-track video opposite a young Wesley Snipes.
✗ Off the beat. The answer is five #1 singles on the Hot 100. Diamond certification wasn’t created until 1999. The first album to debut at #1 was Elton John’s Captain Fantastic (1975). Simultaneous CD/vinyl releases weren’t a Bad-specific milestone. Bad’s five chart-toppers — from “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” through “Dirty Diana” — was the record no album had ever hit before.
08
Michael is universally known as the “King of Pop,” but the nickname was specifically popularised by a close friend who bestowed it on him while presenting him with the Soul Train Heritage Award in 1989. Who was she?
✓ Correct! Elizabeth Taylor — a close friend of Michael’s since the 80s — called him “the true king of pop, rock and soul” while presenting the Soul Train Heritage Award in March 1989. He embraced the moniker, eventually insisting media outlets use it when referring to him. Diana Ross had mentored him at Motown. Oprah did the famous 1993 Neverland interview. Whitney Houston was a peer and collaborator on USA for Africa.
✗ Off the beat. The answer is Elizabeth Taylor — at the Soul Train Heritage Award in March 1989, she hailed him as “the true king of pop, rock and soul.” Diana Ross was his Motown mentor. Oprah Winfrey later did the landmark 1993 living-room interview at Neverland. Whitney Houston sang on “We Are the World” but didn’t coin the nickname. Taylor and Michael were genuinely close friends.
End of Side B · Stylus Up Your King of Pop Rank
🎤
/ 8
Moonwalker — or still warming up the turntable?
Per Variety, as of Sunday morning, Michael is projected to end its opening weekend with a cumulative global total of $217 million. While the movie was boosted by the fact that it opened in many international markets two days earlier on April 22, this total marks the best global debut for a live-action English-language movie in 2026, beating out the Ryan Gosling sci-fi smash Project Hail Mary ($140.9 million).
This total sees 2026’s Michael shooting up the global chart to land among the Top 10 releases of the year after just one weekend in theaters. The movie is currently positioned at No. 6, behind only Wuthering Heights ($241.7 million, as of Friday), Hoppers ($368.6 million), Project Hail Mary ($583.6 million), China’s Pegasus 3 ($641 million), and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($781.2 million).
Over the course of the weekend, it has already rocketed past the complete global totals of numerous major 2026 releases, including Scream 7 ($213.5 million), the animated hit GOAT ($190.5 million), the record-breaking Indian movie Dhurandhar: The Revenge ($152.9 million), A24’s buzzy dark comedy The Drama ($99.9 million), Sam Raimi’s Send Help ($94 million), and the sleeper hit Colleen Hoover romance adaptation Reminders of Him ($87.4 million).
It remains to be seen how high Michael can climb up the chart by the end of its run. One potential road block is the fact that it will be competing with the upcoming The Devil Wears Prada 2. The hotly anticipated sequel debuts during Michael‘s sophomore weekend, which kicks off on May 1. However, both movies could coexist peacefully throughout most of the remainder of May, as the month is relatively free of major releases, with the only direct blockbuster competition coming from Mortal Kombat II on May 8 and The Mandalorian and Grogu on May 22.
While Michael reviews have been largely negative, earning it a 38% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie is performing much better with audiences, as indicated by its Verified Hot 97% RT audience score and its CinemaScore of A-. These are roughly in line with the record-breaking smash hit Bohemian Rhapsody, which is currently the highest-grossing music biopic of all time. While that $911 million movie was a major outlier for the genre (it’s still the only music biopic to have grossed more than $300 million), if Michael has a similar trajectory, it could become a billion-dollar smash.
If it does hit that $1 billion global milestone, Michael will almost certainly cement a place among the Top 10 movies of 2026 by the end of the year. 2026 has not yet had any billion-dollar successes, though The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is on track to hit that benchmark. On the upcoming schedule, there are only a handful of movies (such as Toy Story 5, Minions & Monsters, Moana, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and Avengers: Doomsday) that seem to have the potential to break $1 billion, leaving plenty of runway open for the new biopic.
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