• Brand/Studio: Lionsgate / Universal Pictures
• Movie Base: Michael (Michael Jackson Biopic)
• Milestone: Reached $959.6 Million Worldwide Cumulative Total
• Historical Baseline: Passed The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ($945.6M) and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug ($959.1M)
• Weekend Performance: Earned $13.6 Million (including $5.4 Million from Japan)

The records continue for MICHAEL. The latest achievement, you ask? Following a powerhouse weekend performance, the Antoine Fuqua-directed biopic has officially climbed the ranks to knock down two of the most heavily defended pillars in Peter Jackson’s legendary Middle-earth cinematic universe. For over two decades, Peter Jackson’s fantasy adaptations stood as absolute financial fortresses on the all-time box office charts. However, the King of Pop’s cinematic legacy has engineered a relentless revenue engine that shows no signs of slowing down, as the film officially bypassed The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, which held a historic lifetime gross of $945.6 million.  But that’s not all, during the same weekend, the movie also edged past The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and its formidable $959.1 million benchmark, fundamentally altering the layout of the upper tier of Hollywood’s all-time chart earners.

RELATED: Lionsgate’s ‘MICHAEL’ Becomes the #1 Musical Biopic in Box Office History Across Africa

A massive catalyst for this historic chart migration rests on the film’s exceptional legs across international retail corridors. The multi-million dollar performance in markets like Japan proves that Michael Jackson’s global star power remains a dominant force capable of transcending typical domestic cinematic boundaries. While the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit franchises safely maintain their legendary status regarding cinematic runtime prestige and fantasy world-building, MICHAEL has successfully seized absolute share-of-voice on the global balance sheet. As the film steadily marches toward the coveted $1 billion threshold, its historic box office footprint has rewritten the modern distribution blueprint for musical cinema.

What’s Next?

Fans can now purchase or rent MICHAEL through major premium video-on-demand platforms, including digital storefronts such as Prime Video, Apple TV and Fandango at Home. The digital release includes purchase options as well as rental access for viewers who want to revisit the story of the King of Pop from home. 

From there, Lionsgate will follow up the streaming debut with a premium physical rollout on July 14 (according to the Blu Ray website), introducing an array of Collector’s Edition 4K UHD Steelbooks at retail giants like Walmart and Amazon.

MICHAEL is now confirmed to be hitting the $1 billion mark.

Featured Photo: Lionsgate

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