‘Michael’ Is About To Blow Past An All-Time Box Office Record

InnovationGaming‘Michael’ Is About To Blow Past An All-Time Box Office RecordByPaul Tassi,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. News and opinion about video games, television, movies and the internet.Follow AuthorApr 25, 2026, 11:24am EDTApr 25, 2026, 11:26am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.MichaelLionsgateMichael has divided critics and audiences, with a yawning gap in scores, but the latter will make or break the film, and the Michael Jackson biopic is about to be a record-setting smash hit.Michael is already sailing past early expectations for its box office earnings. It has already earned $12.6 million in Thursday night domestic previews, which is similar to Project Hail Mary and actually above movies like Oppenheimer and Dune Part II.After that, Michael’s one-day Friday earnings are $40 million, which indicates a projected weekend of $88 million at the domestic box office alone. That puts it ahead of earlier estimates that were topping out at $70 million. Then, its global release means the ~$200 million budgeted film could earn $180 million this weekend alone.This weekend haul for Michael would be almost 50% higher than the previous record holder for a musical biopic, where Straight Outta Compton made $60 million domestically. After that, it was Bohemian Rhapsody with $55 million. A film that racked up similarly near-perfect audience scores, Elvis, only managed $31 million in its opening weekend, and Michael is looking to triple that.Elvis WBMORE FOR YOUIn terms of overall performance, there is little question that if Michael earns around $180 million globally, it will surpass the current second-highest-earning musical biopic, which is the aforementioned Elvis at $288 million. I’m not exactly sure how or why this happened, but Bohemian Rhapsody, in first place, made $910 million, $600+ million more. It may be tough for Mic...