‘Michael’ overtakes ‘Oppenheimer’ to become highest-grossing biopic in history
Michael, the film depicting part of the life of Michael Jackson, has now overtaken Oppenheimer to become the highest-grossing biopic in history.
The movie, which was released in April, was generally panned by critics but lapped up by audiences, who took the story of Jackson’s childhood, right through to the height of his stardom, to a $977 million draw at the global box office.
These takings had already put Michael ahead as the highest-grossing musical biopic of all time, pushing the 2018 Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody into second place, but it has also now overtaken Christopher Nolan’s 2023 epic.
Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy in the lead role, told the story of Robert J Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who helped to develop the first-ever nuclear weapons used during World War Two.
The film became a massive worldwide success, grossing $976 million at the box office in total, largely fuelled by the ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon in which Greta Gerwig’s Barbie was released on the same day in cinemas in July 2023.
However, Michael, directed by Antoine Fuqua, has now usurped that record, and in doing so has also now become the most successful movie ever made by Lionsgate Studios.
This tees the film up perfectly for a highly-anticipated sequel, despite the apparently obvious stumbling block that the next phase of Jackson’s life, following the movie’s conclusion in 1984, cannot avoid the allegations of sexual abuse which surfaced against him in 1993.
Indeed, this proved a significant issue to Michael as the production were forced to spend $15 million on reshoots, after a clause was discovered in the legal settlement with Evan Chandler, who accused Jackson of abusing his 13-year-old son, preventing the film from depicting the allegations or mentioning the child’s name.
Director Fuqua previously described the revelation that they would have to reshoot the ending of the film as “tough”, telling Deadline in April: “All movies have different challenges, but this one was really unique. It was an extra punch in the gut for me at that moment.”
As a result, the film attracted controversy over its handling of this situation, as although Jackson’s estate has always strongly denied any allegations, many have accused the film of glorifying the King of Pop and causing a resurgence in his popularity.
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