Box Office Report for the Week of April 26

Michael Mania is here, and it is, just as pundits predicted, a massive hit. The Antoine Fuqua-directed biopic about the early successes of Michael Jackson‘s career received fairly dismal reviews from critics, but that did not stop fans of the King of Pop from arriving in droves at the cinema to see it.

In fact, whether or not a sequel will get released almost doesn’t matter. These movies will be the most critic-proof in our modern moviegoing HIStory (an MJ pun had to be thrown in there, sorry). The fans antagonizing critics is not OK, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but you could feel the energy from the audience at my Early Access showing this past Wednesday.

At least half of the sold-out IMAX audience were cosplaying, in some capacity, as Michael Jackson. People were cheering at every hype moment or recreation of a major event in the singer’s life, singing along to some of his greatest hits. There was no way this sure-to-be crowd pleaser would not make money; Rotten Tomatoes rating be damned!

The result? We are now looking at the biggest-ever opening for a biopic, musical, or otherwise. It is also the year’s biggest opening for a live-action film and the first biopic in cinema history to surpass $100 million worldwide in a single day. It’s also Fuqua’s biggest-ever movie, surpassing all of his previous motion pictures, including Training Day and The Equalizer.

Domestically, the movie was just a few million dollars shy of crossing the $100 million mark, opening to $97 million. Globally, its tally is at around $217 million, and it could grow in the weeks to come. Time will tell whether the movie’s critical reception affects it in any way, but let’s be honest: it won’t. People won’t stop seeing this movie till they get enough, which could take a while!

Here is the full list of the top ten films of the weekend:

1. Michael (Lionsgate): $97.0M – 3,955 theatres
2. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (Universal): $21.2M (-42%) – 3,732 theatres
3. Project Hail Mary (Amazon MGM Studios): $13.2M (-36%) – 3,510 theatres
4. Lee Cronin’s The Mummy (Warner Bros): $5.6M (-58%) – 3,304 theatres
5. The Drama (A24): $2.6M (-46%) – 1,982 theatres
6. Hoppers (Disney): $1.9M (-38%) – 2,000 theatres
7. You, Me & Tuscany (Universal): $1.5M (-62%) – 2,115 theatres
8. Over Your Dead Body (IFC Films): $1.4M – 1,550 theatres
9. Mother Mary (A24): $1.2M (+646%) – 1,103 theatres
10. American Youngboy (Independent Films): $1.1M – 583 theatres

Source: Comscore