The King of Pop might just be the King of Popcorn, too. Audiences rushed to see Michael this past weekend, giving the Michael Jackson movie the biggest global opening for a biopic ever, according to producer Lionsgate. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the movie, which had a final budget of $200 million, made:
- $97 million domestically.
- $120.4 million more overseas.
Is it actually good? It depends on who you ask. The movie, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Jafaar Jackson, the late singer’s real-life nephew, has a stellar 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. But critics mostly thought it was bad, so bad, shamone.
The elephant in the room
Some of the biggest criticisms revolved around the fact that Michael concluded in 1988, before he was publicly accused of child molestation. The original cut of the movie delved into some of the allegations, but those scenes were scrapped after the Jackson estate realized it had previously agreed with the accuser it was trying to depict not to feature that person in any film, per The Hollywood Reporter. The change required extensive and expensive reshoots.
A sequel is reportedly likely: And it could delve into the controversies, but the Jackson estate, which denies all allegations against Michael, would still be overseeing production, underscoring a problem that many authorized biopics face: When an artist or their estate controls the story (and music rights), the audience might not get the full picture.—BC
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