411 Box Office Report: Michael Smashes Record With $97 Million Opening Weekend

Michael Jackson was king of the box office this weekend, with Michael soaring to a record-breaking domestic start. The Antoine Fuqua-directed biopic led the way with ease, grossing $97 million in its launch. That is the best start ever for a musical biopic, surpassing the $60.2 million opening of Straight Outta Compton in August of 2015.

The opening is a major overperformance for the film, which came into the weekend expected to take $75 million to $80 million. Even that would have been huge of course, but as it stands the film is performing at the level of blockbusters. In addition to topping the musical biopics list, it blasted past the $80.5 million start of Project Hail Mary to be the best live-action opening of the year and the second best of any film, behind only The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

Michael was always going to do big numbers. Michael Jackson was arguably the most famous pop star in history and still is to this day, almost 20 years after his death. And while the film’s road to the big screen was a long and bumpy one, audiences were always interested.

While the film has not been a favorite of critics, it is scoring big with audiences. The Rotten Tomatoes critical aggregate score is a low 38%, but the RT audience score is a massive 97% and the CinemaScore is an A-. This is a major reversal of fortunes for Lionsgate, who have been struggling for the last couple of years with any film not named John Wick, and reps their biggest opening weekend since The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 started to $102.7 million in November 2015.

Even if it takes a heavy fall, the film is already off to a great start toward megahit status. That’s especially true when you count in the $120.4 million that the film has grossed overseas, giving it a $217.4 million worldwide launch. The film was expensive at a $200 million budget, in part due to reshoots, but the domestic total should easily top $250 million and it’s well on track to be a success.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie came in at #2 in its fourth weekend with $21.2 million. That’s down 42% from last weekend’s $36.5 million take. This marks the first weekend outside of the top spot for the Illumination-produced film. Super Mario Galaxy is in megahit status with $386.5 million domestically and $831.5 million worldwide against a budget of $110 million. It’s still easily on par for $425 million and perhaps closer to $450 million, putting Universal well into profit on it.

Project Hail Mary continues to show legs, down 36% in its sixth weekend to $13.2 million. The Amazon MGM film has been an impressive performer from week to week and has $305.4 million stateside, with $593.4 million worldwide. Those numbers are making it profitable for the studio even with its $190 million budget. As it stands, Haily Mary is probably looking to close out at around $330 million in the US.

Coming in at #4 was Lee Cronin’s The Mummy. The Warner Bros. and Blumhouse production took in $5.6 million, down 58% from its opening weekend of $13.5 million.

I didn’t get to talk about this one last weekend, but these numbers are both solid for the film which came into theaters with a few strikes against it. First off, it was fighting reputation. People think The Mummy and their minds go to Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. That fact was made clear when, with a fourth film in the Fraser/Weisz franchise in the works, Blumhouse had to repeatedly remind people on Twitter that Fraser is not in this film.

The other reputational problem that the movie had to fight is that, quite frankly, the last horror-esque take on The Mummy bombed. That was the 2017 Tom Cruise film, which did poorly enough (losing the studio about $90 million even with a $410 million worldwide gross) that it doomed Universal’s plan for a monster cinematic universe.

While Cronin’s film didn’t do great with critics (it’s sitting at a 46% Rotten Tomatoes critic score), it’s doing well enough with audiences that it should be profitable. Even a C+ CinemaScore and 75% RT audience score aren’t hurting it too bad when you consider that the movie has grossed $23.5 million domestically and $65.5 million worldwide against a $22 million budget. With where it’s at now, The Mummy should make its way to about $35 million in the US and will be profitable for the studio.

The Drama is continuing to show strength, grossing 2.6 million in its fourth weekend. The A24’s dark dramedy was down 46% to raise its tallies to $44.8 million domestically and $76.5 million worldwide. The Zendaya and Robert Pattinson film is within striking distance of Zendaya’s last film Challengers, which was fine with $50.1 million in the US and $96.1 million worldwide. And a key point: The Drama cost about half of what Challengers cost with a $28 million budget. This is already in profit for A24 and should finish out around $55 million domestically.

Hoppers was down 38% in its seventh weekend, bringing in $1.9 million. The Pixar film has totaled $164.2 million stateside and $370.6 million worldwide against a $150 million production budget, making it a return to form for the studio. It’s going to close out at around $170 million in the US.

You, Me, and Tuscany is proving to be a minor misfire as it slipped 62% in its third weekend to gross $1.5 million. That’s Universal film is not performing like a romcom usually does; it slipped 50% last weekend. The Halle Bailey and Jean-Rene Page film is now at $17.6 million domestically and just $20.5 million worldwide against an $18 million production budget. The film will probably find profit once home viewing revenue starts coming in but it will probably end around $21 million in the US, not enough for profit there.

We had a trio of top 10 first timers closing out the list. First up was IFC’s Over Your Dead Body. The darkly comedic thriller, a remake of the 2021 Norwegian film The Trip, opened with $1.4 million which is moderately in line with IFC’s openings.

Over Your Dead Body was never going to be a huge hit; it earned okay reviews out of SXSW (69% on RT) and IFC doesn’t do huge box office numbers as a rule. Their strategy is to release these films in a limited theatrical run, keep marketing costs low, and then send them to home viewing. That was what happened here. We don’t have budget information on the Jorma Taccone-directed film but it’s not likely to have been expensive and IFC should be in solid shape here.

A24 had a second film in the top 10 with Mother Mary. The Anne Hathaway-starring psychological thriller grossed $1.3 million for its first weekend in wide release after a five-theater launch last weekend. Much like Over Your Dead Body, Mother Mary was a moderate hit at best with critics (68% on RT). The film is being overshadowed by Hathaway’s upcoming — and much more mainstream-friendly — The Devil Wears Prada 2. This won will leave theaters soon and will probably not be profitable against a $20 million budget.

Finally, IndieFilms’ American Youngboy took the #10 spot with $1.2 million. The concert film is below your average concert film by several degrees, even those such as EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert which bowed to $3.2 million earlier this year. But as with most concert films, this is additional revenue for a tour that was already profitable. American Youngboy has $1.8 million total and won’t be around in the top 10 next weekend.

Michael will give way to fashion icons next weekend as The Devil Wears Prada 2 is expected to take the top spot. The comedy sequel is looking at $70 million to $80 million to start. Counterprogramming comes in the form of Damian McCarthy’s new horror flick Hokum and Sony Pictures’ anime film That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea, both of whom are targeting low single digit starts.

Box Office Top Ten (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)

1. Michael – $97 million ($97 million total, $217.4 million WW)
2. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie – $21.2 million ($386.5 million total, $831.5 million WW)
3. Project Hail Mary – $13.2 million ($305.4 million total, $593.4 million WW)
4. Lee Cronin’s The Mummy – $5.6 million ($23.5 million total, $65.5 million WW)
5. The Drama – $2.6 million ($44.8 million total, $76.5 million WW)
6. Hoppers – $1.9 million ($164.2 million total, $370.6 million WW)
7. You, Me & Tuscany – $1.5 million ($17.6 million total, $20.5 million WW)
8. Over Your Dead Body – $1.4 million ($1.4 million total, $1.4 million WW)
9. Mother Mary – $1.3 million ($1.5 million total, $1.5 million WW)
10. American Youngboy – $1.2 million ($1.8 million total, $1.8 million WW)