Moonwalk to the Bank: Michael Jackson Biopic Shrugs Off Bad Reviews, Controversy and a $50m Reshoot to Shatter Box Office Records

27 April 2026 | Los Angeles, California

LOS ANGELES – The critics hated it. The production was a disaster. The subject was radioactive. And the movie just moonwalked all the way to the bank.

Michael, the big-budget Michael Jackson biopic, has shrugged off bad reviews, a troubled production, and decades of controversy to launch with a $97 million opening in North American theaters – contributing to an enormous $217 million worldwide box office and shattering the record for the biggest biopic opening of all time.

Let that sink in. Oppenheimer opened to $180 million. Bohemian Rhapsody opened to $124 million. Michael just blew past both of them – with a movie that nearly fell apart before anyone saw a single frame.

The Critics Hated It. The Audience Didn't Care.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the numbers tell a story of two completely different movies. The critics' score: 38% – a thumbs-down from the people who get paid to judge. The audience score: 97% – a standing ovation from the people who actually bought tickets.

That gap is almost unheard of. It suggests that Michael is not a film for the intellectually curious. It is a film for the fans. And there are still millions of them.

"From the beginning, all of the signals were that something like this was possible," Lionsgate chairman Adam Fogelson told the Associated Press. "We were seeing massive engagement with every conceivable audience segment that you could identify."

Translation: they knew the critics would hate it. And they didn't care.

The $50 Million Mistake: How the Film Almost Died

But here's the part of the story that sounds like a Hollywood satire. After shooting was completed, producers realized they had made a costly mistake. The third act focused on the accusations of Jordan Chandler, a 13-year-old boy whom Jackson paid $23 million to in a 1994 settlement.

There was just one problem. The terms of that settlement barred the Jackson estate from ever mentioning Chandler in a movie. Ever.

A huge chunk of the film was cut. Reshoots costing as much as $50 million were done – at the estate's expense. Director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter John Logan reworked the movie to conclude in 1988, before any accusations were made. The entire third act? Gone. The $50 million price tag? Paid.

"I would take issue with the idea that we as a studio or as filmmakers were running around in a panic," Fogelson told AP, calling it "a unique and challenging circumstance" instead.

That is Hollywood-speak for: yes, we panicked.

The Elephant in the Room: Michael Jackson's Legacy

No discussion of Michael is complete without acknowledging the shadow that hangs over it. Jackson, who died in 2009 at age 50, has been repeatedly tarnished by allegations of sexual abuse of children. He was acquitted in his sole criminal trial in 2005 but maintained that he never abused anyone, though he acknowledged sharing a bedroom with other people's children.

The 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland reignited the controversy, presenting detailed allegations from two men who said Jackson abused them as children. The film's director, Dan Reed, recently told the Guardian: "It kind of fills me with horror, the degree to which everyone can turn a blind eye to the fact that this guy was a bit of a monster."

Even the Jackson family was divided. Janet Jackson was uninvolved and doesn't appear in the film. Jackson's daughter, Paris, called it "fantasy land."

And yet, audiences showed up anyway.

Jaafar Jackson: The Nephew Who Became the King

At the center of it all is Jaafar Jackson, Michael's nephew, who steps into his uncle's penny loafers with a performance that has drawn praise even from detractors. The physical resemblance is uncanny. The dance moves are eerily precise. And the voice – well, that's Michael's actual recordings, but the lip-sync is flawless.

Jaafar doesn't just play Michael. He channels him. And for fans who have spent decades defending the King of Pop, that is enough.

What's Next? Sequels. Plural.

A sequel is already in development. A third film after that, Fogelson said, is "not inconceivable." Director Antoine Fuqua has said he would like to direct the sequel, telling Deadline: "It would kill me if somebody else did it."

Cut footage from the original production could be repurposed, Fuqua added, since the shoots went "pretty far" into the 1990s before the Chandler settlement issue was discovered. "Maybe a year or two after that (1995) when things turned against Michael."

The math is simple: if audiences keep showing up, Lionsgate will keep making them.

The Bottom Line: A Hit Despite Itself

Michael is not a good movie by critical standards. It glosses over uncomfortable truths. It sanitizes a complicated legacy. It cost nearly $200 million to make and faced a production nightmare that would have sunk lesser projects.

But it is also a hit. A massive, undeniable, record-shattering hit.

Bohemian Rhapsody remains the highest-grossing music biopic of all time at $910 million global box office. Oppenheimer holds the overall biopic record at $975 million. Michael has a long way to go to catch them – but after this weekend, no one is betting against it.

The critics groaned. The audiences cheered. The box office exploded. And somewhere, the King of Pop is probably moonwalking.

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