“Michael” Wraps: Michael Jackson Biopic Ends A Billion Dollar Blockbuster

Michael Jackson conquered the billion dollar box office as Michael ended its historic theatrical run as the highest grossing biopic ever made.

The Antoine Fuqua directed movie starring Michael Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson finished with approximately $1.028 billion worldwide, placing the King of Pop’s life story among an elite collection of movies to cross the billion dollar threshold.

Box Office Mojo lists the final worldwide haul at $1,028,706,645. The movie earned $372,303,388 in the United States and Canada while international audiences contributed another $656,403,257.

That means nearly two thirds of the movie’s ticket sales came from outside North America, an appropriate finish for a movie centered on an entertainer whose reach extended around the planet.

Michael the first biopic to cross $1 billion worldwide, a feat no biographical movie had accomplished before.

The movie had already passed Bohemian Rhapsody to become the biggest music biopic before eventually overtaking Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer for the overall biographical movie record.

Guinness World Records also recognized Michael as the highest grossing music biopic.

The movie arrived in theaters in April with plenty of attention and immediately showed its commercial strength. Michael opened with $97.2 million domestically and generated more than $217 million worldwide during its opening weekend.

The performance became even more striking as the year unfolded.

Michael finished among a small group of 2026 releases that crossed $1 billion worldwide. Spider-Man: Brand New Day leads the year with roughly $2.5 billion globally while Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has climbed to approximately $1.75 billion. Toy Story 5 also cleared $1 billion while The Super Mario Galaxy Movie finished at approximately $1.012 billion.

Jaafar Jackson portrayed his late uncle in the movie, which follows Michael Jackson from his childhood with The Jackson 5 through his emergence as one of the biggest entertainers in music history. Colman Domingo portrays Joseph Jackson while Nia Long plays Katherine Jackson.

The film was produced with the cooperation of the Michael Jackson estate and distributed domestically by Lionsgate. Universal handled much of its international release.