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What a stunning weekend for brand management! Michael, the critically reviled Michael Jackson biopic, earned over $200 million at the box office globally in its first weekend. $120 million of that was overseas. The film almost broke $100 mil domestically, with a $97 million b.o. its first weekend.
Michael now holds the record for best opening for a biopic ever, blowing past Straight Outta Compton’s $60.2 million. Which it was expected to do. Tracking put the domestic tally at somewhere between $65 and $70 million, and those expectations were far exceeded. The film also made back its reported $170 million budget, including the $15 mil of reshoots that were legally required. The original cut of the film included a framing device depicting the people who accused Jackson of child sexual abuse as “money-grubbing” opportunists, “whose unfounded claims force Jackson to endure ridicule and persecution until he ultimately settles, his resolve and reputation forever in tatters,” Puck’s Matt Belloni wrote in January of last year. But a lawsuit settlement stated the Chandlers could not be shown at all in any dramatization of Jackson’s life.
The question now becomes: sequel? The film ends with a James Bond-esque “His Story Continues” title card. But if the estate is legally prohibited from depicting basically the entire second half of Jackson’s life, what would a second movie even be about? Lisa Marie? Or maybe the filming of Martin Bashir’s Living With Michael Jackson. If Michael doesn’t need Janet, Michael 2 can basically be about anything. Except “Scream,” they can’t do “Scream.”
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