Before “Michael” hit theaters, most critics had already made up their minds. Reviews were brutal, with Rotten Tomatoes scores sitting in the high 30s, and plenty of headlines predicted the film would struggle to find an audience. Prince Jackson remembers that period well.
“The critics were betting against this movie, and here we are, first weekend out, it already broke records,” Prince said. “My father was, is, and always will be a man of the people, and the people are speaking.”
Prince Speaks To The Timeless Legend Michael Jackson Is
He wasn’t exaggerating. “MICHAEL” OPENED TO ROUGHLY $97 MILLION DOMESTICALLY AND OVER $217 MILLION WORLDWIDE, THE BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND EVER FOR A MUSIC BIOPIC, blowing past records previously held by “Straight Outta Compton” and even “Oppenheimer.” Audiences gave it an A- on CinemaScore. The reviews barely mattered once people actually showed up.
What makes this more than just a box office story is who’s actually buying tickets. Decades after his death, Michael Jackson is still pulling in younger generations who never saw him perform live, alongside the people who grew up on Thriller and Bad the first time around.
Critics Were Wrong About “Michael”
Michael’s music keeps getting rediscovered, sampled, remixed, and passed down, and that’s not something most artists from his era can claim.
Michael wasn’t chasing a sound from one decade. The way he moved, the way he wrote a hook, the way a song like “Billie Jean” still sounds modern over forty years later, NONE OF IT WAS BUILT TO EXPIRE.
Critics can review a movie about his life however they want. The people who actually show up at the theater, stream his catalog, and teach his moves to their kids are the ones deciding what lasts!
The biopic now stands at $940+ million in revenue and is expected to be the first-ever biopic to reach the $1 billion club.