Michael lands highest biopic opening ever at the weekend box office

As expected, Michael, the Michael Jackson biopic, opened at number one at the box office. Not only did it open atop the box office, but it earned the highest-grossing opening of any biopic ever, easily surpassing Straight Outta Compton‘s $60 million in 2015 and Bohemian Rhapsody‘s $51 million opening in 2018. Michael washed them both, earning $97 million in the United States this weekend. When the rest of the world is factored in, the project grossed $217 million this weekend. Clearly, a large segment of the audience was unbothered by the decades of child sex abuse allegations—including some detailed as the film was opening—nor the fact that the movie just ends in 1988. The gross seems like it would indicate good news for the already-teased sequel, which would have the unenviable task of chronicling Jackson’s life in the 1990s and 2000s.