Receipts: There is Nothing Bad about ‘Michael’s’ Box Office Run

Domestic: The film, Michael, moonwalks through the box office and steals the hearts of audiences, grossing over $557 million, that is a little more than half a billion dollars worldwide in just 17 days. 

This puts Michael in direct competition with its competitor in the biopic genre, Bohemian Rhapsody, and so far Michael is going for gold. Domestically, Michael has already surpassed Bohemian Rhapsody's total gross at $240 million vs. $216 million, but the biggest shock comes from the opening weekend numbers, with Michael grossing $97 million vs. only $51 million from Bohemian Rhapsody. 

These numbers come after harsh pre-released critical reviews surfaced, stating that this movie is a “hokey, corny, safe, clichéd, sanitized look at Michael Jackson” However, Critic reviews clearly don’t match up to the audiences’ love for this biopic, coming in at a 97% popcornmeter on rotten tomatoes. 

With Michael being ranked 4th worldwide while only being in the box office for 2 weeks, the film is on track to pierce Top 3 worldwide for 2026, dethroning Chinese racing film, Pegasus 3, which didn't do as well in the domestic box office compared to its worldwide debut.

Zendaya led film,The Drama, quietly drops down from 3rd ranked to 14th ranked film of the year as other mega films take over the box office, but not without solidifying record breaking numbers for A24 at $122 million worldwide. This makes The Drama A24’s 5th highest grossing film of all time. This comes at a time where A24 films are growing very popular among young moviegoers, while also allowing space for People of Color lead films and storylines to make it to theatrical releases. 

You, Me & Tuscany, starring Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page, only grossed about $21 million dollars in the box office. This isn’t great considering it's going against a $18 million dollar budget, which needs roughly three times that number to break even, but it's not the worst. Comparatively, the film “[outgrossed] the opening weekend of Anyone But You, which debuted at No. 4 in 2023 with a $6 million haul.” The film is still in theaters, but it's also currently available to rent to buy, which will allow the studio to recoup whatever else they can from this film as it slowly phases out. This comes after internet controversy when film director, Nina Lee, claims studio executives would not buy into her, or any other Black led romcoms until they “see how You, Me & Tuscany does [in the box office].” 

A Hollywood star on the rise is Tyrique Withers with his co-led film, Reminders of Him, which premiered earlier this year in March, grossing $88 million dollars worldwide. This is roughly a $61 million dollar boost from his last co-led film, Him, also starring Marlon Wayans, which only grossed about $27 million worldwide. The numbers don’t lie, bright things are happening for this young star. 

International: As far as international success, the Chinese market has reached this year's top 10 worldwide, not once, not twice, but three times with each film making over $200 million worldwide. 

Pegasus 3, may have not done the best domestically, bringing in only about $1 million, but the film has grossed nearly $650 million internationally, 99.8% of that number strictly coming from international revenue. Roughly $6 million shy of overtaking Project Hail Mary for the top 2 spot this year, but the film does overtake its domestic rival, F1, by $16 million. Seems like the Chinese market might be going harder than ever before, challenging the American market to step up their game. 

Blade of the Guardians has a similar story to Pegasus 3, with 99.3% of its revenue coming from international sources, grossing roughly $215 million. Although the gap between Blade of the Guardians and Pegasus 3 is about $435 million wide, Blade of the Guardians is still able to blow other domestic successes out of the water, beating indie darling The Drama by nearly $92 million.

The last in the trio is the film, Scare Out, which had zero domestic revenue, but still pierced 2026’s Top 10, sitting at the 10th spot having grossed $200 million, purely international. This film beats out GOAT, starring Steph Curry, Celeb McLaughlin, and Gabriel Union. Even with all that star power, Scare Out just barely over takes the film by roughly $7 million. 

Streaming: The Netflix streaming numbers are in for the week of May 4th through May 10th and we have a couple of knock outs.

Swapped, starring Michael B. Jordan and Tracey Morgan are in their second week in the English Film Top 10 category, ranking number 1. This comes after Michael B. Jordan’s Oscar win for Best Actor. 

Thrash clocked in at 4.3 million views and maintained its place in the Top 10 for 4 weeks before being pushed out entirely. Last week it was thought that the 2023 animated film, Migration might dethron the shark thriller, however it is nowhere to be found as well. Although it was sitting in the 4th rank spot at 4.1 million views last week, it was not enough to maintain a spot on the Top 10. 

We are at an astonishing 47 week run with Kpop Demon Hunters being in the Top 10, sitting at number 5 and it doesn’t seem like it's leaving anytime soon. 

Rounding out the 10th spot for English films, Home starring Rihanna and Jennier Lopez clocks in at 2.6 million views. Home has been quietly holding its position as it has been in the Top 10 for 11 weeks and counting. 

It’s a good week for Thailand because My Dearest Assassin broke through all the way to the number 1 spot in the Non-English Top 10. The film clocks in at 8.5 Million views in its first week. With numbers like that we could see My Dearest Assassin hold a place on the Top 10 for weeks to come. 

The Mexican drama-comedy, Son-In-Law is in its 2nd week in the Top Ten holding the 5th rank with 2.5 million views. 

The Indian market is trying to hold strong with films Biker and Bharathanatyam 2 Mohiniyattam, holding places 7th and 8th, but they both only reached about 1 million views each. Who knows if they will be here next week. 

May is far from over and with upcoming films like Is God Is, and Backrooms hitting silverscreens soon, there is no telling how these numbers will change and which films will snag a spot on the 2026 Box office Top 10.