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Michael Jackson’s movie Michael has made history by becoming the highest grossing biopic of all time.
The Lionsgate film directed by Antoine Fuqua has moonwalked past Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy.
Still in theatrical release, Michael has grossed $977.4 million (£740.9m), surpassing Oppenheimer’s $975.8 million (£739.1m).
This comes despite Oppenheimer’s incredible Oscar-winning run, which included seven awards from Best Picture to Best Director.
Over this past weekend, Michael has pulled in $9.2million (£6.9m) at the global box office.
The anticipation also remains that Michael, which stars Jackson’s nephew Jafar Jackson as the lead character, will reach a billion worldwide.
If it does so, it will become the second film to do so in 2026 after Universal’s Super Mario Galaxy movie.
Michael was also able to pull off this record while being on a 46-day theatrical window.
In comparison, Oppenheimer was on a well over six month theatrical window before it landed on streaming service Peacock.
In comparison to other musical biopics, Michael has also surpassed Bohemian Rapsody, which earned $911 million (£690m), both of which were produced by Graham King.
This comes after fans praised Michael as ‘the ultimate love letter to fans’ despite there being major controversy.
According to Variety, the Michael Jackson estate spent up to $15 million (£13.5m) to remove child abuse scenes.
After a costly rewrite the film now steers firmly away from those allegations.
Originally, the film leaned into the turbulence of when Evan Chandler accused the singer of sexually abusing his 13-year-old son, Jordan Chandler, in 1993.
Early versions of the script included scenes that featured Jackson grappling with the fallout.
Elsewhere in the film, Colman Domingo stars as the family patriarch Joe Jackson alongside Miles Teller as Jackson’s longtime attorney John Branca.
Michael is available to rent on platforms such as Prime Video, Apple TV, or Sky Store.