The Michael Jackson Biopic Is Still Dominating Global Box Office — and the Numbers Are Stunning

When a film reaches the $977 million mark worldwide and claims the title of highest-grossing biopic in cinema history, you might reasonably expect its momentum to start fading. In the case of ‘Michael,’ the Antoine Fuqua-directed portrait of the King of Pop starring Jaafar Jackson, that assumption has been consistently wrong.

Market after market continues to demonstrate that Michael Jackson’s global cultural footprint is not merely alive, but actively driving one of the most remarkable theatrical runs in recent memory.

The story of ‘Michael’ at the international box office has been one of sustained dominance rather than the typical sharp decline most releases experience after their opening weeks. The film became the first release of the year to surpass $20 million in Russia, and the data being tracked on social media suggests that milestone now looks modest compared to where the film is headed.

A box office update shared on June 28, 2026, shows the biopic still sitting at number one in Russia on its fifth weekend, continuing to outperform expectations week after week.

The detail in the latest Russian box office report is striking. According to the tracking data, ‘Michael’ grossed $1.7 million over its fifth four-day weekend in Russia, a drop of just 29.2 percent from the previous frame. On the Sunday of that same weekend, the film pulled in $480,000 across more than 1,020 theatres, with the screen count actually expanding by 43 locations compared to the prior week.

The film’s cumulative gross in Russia now stands at $20.5 million from 2.8 million admissions, with pre-sales for the following Monday already sitting at $35,000. Based on the trajectory, analysts tracking the market are projecting a total Russian run of between $24 million and $28 million.

Those numbers place Russia firmly in the company of the film’s strongest international territories. Lionsgate handles Russia via Volga, and the territory had contributed close to $10 million to the global total at an earlier reporting point, a figure that has now more than doubled as the film continues its remarkable longevity.

By June 28, ‘Michael’ had grossed more than $977 million worldwide, officially becoming the highest-grossing biographical film ever made and surpassing ‘Oppenheimer,’ a milestone that arrived simultaneously with the film’s continued dominance in multiple markets. Russia is one of the territories reinforcing that staying power. A 29.2 percent drop in a fifth weekend, with theatre count growing rather than contracting, is the kind of performance that studios usually reserve for their most tentpole-level blockbusters.

Nearly 60 percent of the film’s global revenue has come from markets outside the United States and Canada, underscoring the worldwide reach of Jackson’s legacy. Russia, which has responded to the film with consistent enthusiasm across multiple weeks, is a significant contributor to that international momentum. The fact that the screen count expanded on its fifth weekend rather than contracting is a particularly telling sign of audience appetite remaining strong.

The film’s global performance has continued to confound those who expected audience interest to plateau. The movie has had remarkable weekend holds domestically and internationally, dipping by just 44 percent in its second weekend, 30 percent in weekend three, 31 percent in weekend four, 21 percent in weekend five, and 43 percent in weekend six, numbers that reflect an unusually loyal and sustained audience base.

A sequel to ‘Michael’ was officially announced to be in development on May 21, 2026, with director Antoine Fuqua having confirmed that enough footage exists from the original production to support a follow-up covering Jackson’s later life. For a film that critics largely received with skepticism, dismissing it for what they described as a sanitised approach to its subject, the commercial story could not be more different. The King of Pop, it turns out, has more box office left to give.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!