SUNDAY AM UPDATE: Before the Michael Jackson biopic conquers Japan next weekend, global box office numbers this morning show that Lionsgate‘s highest grossing movie ever stands at $897.9M after a $23.1M global seventh weekend. That $897M includes non Universal territories handled by Volga.
Volga is handling Russia where the pic has done close to $10M.
Divided that’s $7.7M domestic, -35%, and $15.4M abroad, -29% from 83 territories. With $533.8M in Uni markets ($543.685M overall foreign with Volga markets), Michael has surpassed Bohemian Rhapsody‘s foreign cume in like-for-like markets. Domestic is at $354.2M.
Fantastic holds here:
The UK & Ireland added $1.8M this weekend to reach a cume of $68.1M, already above Bohemian Rhapsody at the same point.
In Germany, Michael added $1.6M in Wknd 7, taking the cume to $34.3M through Sunday, well above Bohemian Rhapsody at the same point. Michael ranked No.4, achieving uplift from the Corpus Christi holidays.
In France, Michael grossed $1.5M this weekend to reach a cume of $54.5M, having already grossed past BohRap and Oppenheimer.
Brazil saw $1.3M for a running cume of $32.2M — already Uni’s biggest film there ever.
Australia saw $1.1m for $30.7M cume, above Oppenheimer and Bohemian Rhapsody at the same point.
In the Netherlands, the Antoine Fuqua directed, Graham King production added $800K for a running $14M cume. Michael remains the No. 1 title in the market, after 7 weeks in release.
FRIDAY UPDATE: You know it’s a great summer when myriad studios are hitting all-time company records at the global box office. Lionsgate, which fired up the heat wave this season with the Antoine Fuqua-directed Michael with a $97.2M domestic, $217.4M worldwide start, will see the Michael Jackson biopic become its highest-grossing movie ever this weekend. Michael is going into its seventh weekend.
Michael, which stands at $346.6M domestic through Thursday and well north of $508M abroad ($854.6M+ global), will pass the two top-grossing Lionsgate titles ever: 2013’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($865M WW) and 2012’s Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 ($868.5M lifetime WW; $829.7M initial theatrical run gross). Universal took foreign on Michael, sans Japan.
RELATED: As ‘Michael 2’ Comes Together, Lionsgate Film Chief Confident Studio Can Pull Off Another “Big And Satisfying Movie For A Global Audience”
Speaking of which, that MJ-rich box office market, the last in the pic’s overseas tour, finally will open on June 12 via local distributor Kino in partnership with Lionsgate. The second-highest-grossing territory outside U.S./Canada for Jackson’s 2009 documentary, This Is It, was Japan at $57M, repping 21% of that Sony release’s $267M-plus global gross. The expectation is that Japan not only will send Micheal across the nine-century worldwide mark but deliver the pic’s producer Graham King a box office record that will beat his own, meaning Michael is poised to surpass GK’s four-time Oscar winner Bohemian Rhapsody (which finaled at $911M WW) as the highest-grossing musical biopic of all time.
Already the movie starring Jaafar Jackson, Colman Domingo, Miles Teller and Nia Long has outstripped the lifetime of Bohemian Rhapsody in several markets including domestic, the UK ($65M+), France ($51M+), Germany ($32M+), Mexico ($31M+), Brazil ($30M+), Australia ($29M+), Spain ($25M+), Italy ($28M+) and Netherlands ($13M+), to name a few.
RELATED: All The Songs In ‘Michael’: From ‘I’ll Be There’ To ‘Beat It’
At the domestic B.O., Michael passed Bohemian Rhapsody ($216.6M) as the highest-grossing musical biopic stateside back on its 16th day of release. The movie has had remarkable weekend holds, dipping by 44% in its second weekend, 30% in Weekend 3, 31% in Weekend 4, 21% in Weekend 5 and 43% in Weekend 6.
Last weekend, Focus Features saw its highest-grossing movie ever at the domestic B.O. in Curry Barker’s Obsession, that horror romance now at $126.5M domestic, and well north of $171M+ worldwide.
RELATED: ‘Michael’ Director Antoine Fuqua On A Convo He Had With Michael Jackson, Reshoots, The Sequel & Choices Made About Pop Icon’s Controversies: Q&A