King Beats Queen: Michael Biopic Beats Bohemian Rhapsody In UK
Can any other biopics Beat It?
Reports have confirmed that Michael, the musical biopic centred around Michael ‘The King of Pop’ Jackson, charting his childhood debut to his solo career, by Antoine Fuqua, has smashed the record for the best opening weekend seen by a biopic in the UK. This tops the previous holder, Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic about Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, released in 2018 by Bryan Singer.
Michael’s opening in the UK grossed a total of £11.6 million ($15 million), which is £5.2 million ($7.02 million) more than Bohemian Rhapsody’s UK opening gross of £6.4 million ($8.64 million), which rounds out to a ratio of 81%. Over in the States, Fuqua’s film grossed $97 million (£71 million) in its opening, while Singer’s made $51 million (£37.7 million), coming out to a $46 million difference (£34 million), helping Michael outperform Bohemian Rhapsody in a 90% ratio.
It’s also been reported that 68% of cinema visits in the UK went towards the Jackson biopic from Friday, 24th to Sunday, 26th. As a combined worldwide gross, the film has reached $217 million (£163 million) in its first weekend and currently sits as the sixth highest-grossing film of 2026, behind Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights adaptation ($241 million) and in front of Kevin Williamson’s Scream 7 ($213 million).
2026’s highest-grossing release is currently Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, with its gross of $832 million.
Additional features in the highest-grossing biopics in their openings include Ray, with a gross of $20 million for an opening weekend, Walk on the Line, with an opening of $22.4 million, Rocketman, with $25.7 million, and Elvis, with $31.2 million.
Michael stars Jaafar Jackson as his uncle Michael Jackson, the artist who would break away from the band with his brothers as formed by his father to become one of music’s most successful contributors with the highest-selling album of all time, most Grammy wins in one night and becoming the first Black artist to appear on MTV; all depicted in the film. It also stars Nia Long, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Laura Harrier, Jessica Sula, Mike Myers, Miles Teller, and Colman Domingo. Juliano Krue Valdi appears in his film debut as 10-year-old Michael.
Source: The Guardian
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