Critics have not been kind to Michael. The first reviews have been brutal, with the biopic getting a very low 35% on Rotten Tomatoes. Still, that doesn’t mean that the ticket sales won’t be breaking records this week. Despite the world’s most famous singer being dead for more than 16 years now, he still has a very dedicated fanbase. And the studio is going to need that pull, especially if the $200 million production costs Deadline is reporting is true.
That number makes Michael the most expensive biopic of all time. That’s more than 55 million that was spent on Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s also more than the $85 million spent on Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis and even more than the $100 million budget of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
So, yes, it’s a good thing that the Michael Jackson biopic pre-sales forecast reveals that it could become one of the quickest films to make a billion dollars at the box office. And given that Bohemian Rhapsody, which followed the rise of Freddie Mercury (which won Rami Malek an Oscar for his performance), made an outstanding $910.8 million worldwide, it’s not hard to imagine the pop star’s feature to do the same.
But the road to the release of the film hasn’t been smooth at all. Reports reveal that after director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter John Logan had completed work on the film, they had to rework the entire project after a rights dispute tied to Jackson’s former accusers. All the footage they had that covered that part of the story had to be chucked away. It will never be seen.
And so, Michael had plenty of reshoots. And again, reports suggest that it cost the production an extra $50 million.
The only good news about the set back is that it allowed the producers to lay the groundwork for a potential sequel. So, yes, there might be a Michael 2 in the works already.
So, when you consider that the $200 million went towards some of the work on the second film, with a few extra performances being recorded, it’s not the worst figures in the business. It’s not really a gamble, given the subject matter and the amount of work that’s been done.
And a sequel could arrive in 2027 or 2028, depending on the success of Michael. But making back $200 million should be pretty easy… especially for the King of Pop.
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