Micheal Jackson Biopic Tops $200m With Record Opening Weekend
micheal jackson’s biopic has passed more than $200m at the box office after posting the biggest opening weekend ever for a biopic. The film’s commercial run now sits alongside an unusually wide split between critics and audiences, a gap that could shape whether a sequel moves ahead.
Regal Union Square Reaction
Wednesday evening brought a packed lobby at Regal Union Square in New York City, where Joanne returned for a second screening. "This was the first time I dressed up for a movie." she said before the showing, then added, "I grew up listening to him and my dad was the main fan."
Joanne said, "I had to come see it again, because I thought it was amazing" and called it "a starter for fans to get into him." Melanie, seeing the film for the first time in Bushwick, Brooklyn, said, "I haven’t really been going to the movies since the pandemic, but I came to see this one because of the hype around it and I’m a big Michael fan."
38% Versus 97%
The Rotten Tomatoes split is stark: a 38% critics’ score against a 97% audience score. Peter Bradshaw called the film "bland, bowdlerised and bad" and "frustratingly shallow," while the crowd response inside theaters was different enough that videos circulated online of fans dancing in the aisles.
That divide is more than a review-page curiosity. The film opens with the opening chords of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," moves into Jackson’s childhood and early days with The Jackson 5, and leans on Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson and Juliano Valdi as 10-year-old Michael.
Janet Jackson Gap
Belize, from the Bronx, said the missing family piece changed how she weighed a ticket. "I was on the fence about it, and what really made me skeptical was when I heard Janet isn’t featured in it because I know they were very close," she said while deciding whether to buy a ticket.
Janet Jackson did not participate in the film’s production and is left out of the movie as a character, which keeps the story tightly centered on Michael’s rise rather than the wider family network around him. For audiences, that means the film is selling access to the star rather than completeness.
More Than $200m
The box-office number gives the clearest read on where the project stands now. More than $200m and a record biopic opening have given the film enough momentum to make a sequel look plausible, even with critics split off at 38% and Peter Bradshaw’s verdict so harsh.
What comes next is less about reputation than leverage. A film that can turn an aisle dance, a repeat visit, and a record opening into this kind of gross has already answered the commercial question; the remaining one is whether the people making the next move treat that audience response as the real story.
