Michael Jackson’s Legacy Lives On as ‘Michael’ Takes Over Overseas Box Office 7th Week in a Row

Most studio films follow a familiar rhythm at the box office, a loud opening weekend followed by a steady fade as audiences move on to whatever comes next. That has not been the story for Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic, which has spent months quietly rewriting the rules of how long a theatrical run is supposed to last. Nowhere has that pattern held up more consistently than in Russia, where the film keeps finding new ways to defy expectations.

‘Michael’ first opened in April, starring Jaafar Jackson as his real-life uncle, alongside Colman Domingo as Joseph Jackson and Miles Teller as longtime Jackson attorney John Branca. The film went on to dethrone ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ as the highest-grossing music biopic ever made before eventually surpassing Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ to claim the title of highest-grossing biographical film of any kind, all while crossing the $1 billion mark globally earlier this month. Russia has been one of the quieter but more consistent contributors to that overall success.

According to box office tracker Luiz Fernando, ‘Michael’ is still sitting at number 1 in Russia heading into its 7th weekend, grossing $1.2 million over its 7th 4-day frame, a drop of just 20% from the previous weekend. That decline follows another strong Sunday performance of $360,000 across 830 theaters, a dip of only 24 locations from the week before, numbers that would be considered remarkable for a film this many weeks into release.

That latest weekend pushes the film’s cumulative Russian total to $24.5 million from 3.5 million admissions so far, with early Monday presales already sitting at $20,000. Analysts tracking the market are now projecting a final Russian theatrical run somewhere in the range of $28 million, a total that would place the country among the film’s stronger international territories relative to typical biopic performance there.

That kind of staying power fits a pattern that has defined the film’s run in Russia since roughly its 5th weekend, when it first crossed $20 million in cumulative earnings and became the first release of 2026 to hit that mark in the territory. By its 6th weekend the film had climbed to $22.5 million from 3.2 million admissions, meaning the latest report represents another steady step forward rather than any kind of sudden surge, just the same gradual, unusually slow decline that has defined its entire run there.

Part of what makes that consistency notable is how much of ‘Michael’ overall success has leaned on international markets outside North America. Nearly 60% of the film’s global total has come from territories beyond the United States and Canada, with countries including the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, and Japan all posting numbers that have already outpaced what ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ managed in those same markets. Russia’s steady 7-week climb fits neatly into that broader international story, even as the film approaches the later stages of its theatrical life in most territories.

The road to this level of success was not exactly smooth, since Lionsgate was forced into a reported $50 million in reshoots after the Jackson estate flagged a legal issue tied to a settlement clause involving one of Jackson’s accusers, pushing the filmmakers to rework the story’s ending. Reaction to that change has been mixed, and Jackson’s own daughter Paris Jackson has publicly said her script notes were disregarded during production. None of that controversy appears to have slowed ticket sales anywhere the film has played, Russia included.

With ‘Michael’ still holding onto the number 1 spot in Russia 7 weekends into release and a sequel already confirmed to be in development, the film’s theatrical run shows no real signs of winding down just yet. Whatever mix of nostalgia and cultural fascination is driving these numbers, Russia has become one more territory proving just how unusual this particular box office story has turned out to be.

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