Despite a “rotten” reception from critics, Michael opened with a thrilling $97.2 million last weekend at the domestic box office — scoring the best debut ever for a biopic.
The authorized film has already earned $284 million worldwide as of this morning, according to Box Office Mojo. It’s expected to collect tens of millions more this weekend, even with stiff competition from The Devil Wears Prada 2.
The King of Pop’s son, Prince Michael Jackson, was one of the executive producers on the biopic. Prince sat down for an interview with Los Angeles radio personality Big Boy on Thursday, April 30, and said he’s proud of the movie’s success.
“To see [Michael Jackson] being celebrated by the world, and to have that love in such a strong way, I think is amazing,” he told Big Boy.
Michael follows the late music legend’s journey from his childhood in Gary, Indiana, to becoming lead singer of the Jackson Five, and eventually the biggest entertainer in the world.
Jaafar Jackson, Jermaine Jackson’s son, plays his uncle Michael in the film. Colman Domingo portrays family patriarch Joe Jackson, and Nia Long plays Michael’s mother, Katherine Jackson.
Related: Critic-Proof ‘Michael’ Dances Away With Massive Domestic Debut
Prince, 29, praised the team behind the film, which includes producer Graham King, director Antoine Fuqua, and the managers of Jackson’s estate. After seeing the film “14 times,” Prince said the $200 million-budgeted biopic hit all the right notes.
“I think that my father deserves a project at this scale and size. He is one of the most important people in modern history, if not in history, and it’s such an important story,” he said. “The team brought it all together and finally got it out there.”
Moviegoers gave the film a stamp of approval, with a 97% “Popcornmeter” score on Rotten Tomatoes. Yet critics were far from impressed. Michael currently has a paltry 37% “Tomatometer” score on the website, with many journalists saying the film offers nothing new about Jackson, who died in 2009.
Prince disagrees and even suggested critics wanted to see the film flop.
“The critics were betting against this movie and here we are — first weekend out, it already broke records and you know, my father was, is and always will be a man of the people and the people are speaking,” he said.
Among the criticism, Michael leans heavily on Jackson’s iconic music, but is light on the storytelling.
“MJ the man in all his complications eludes him and the movie,” wrote longtime critic Peter Travers of The Travers Take.
Brooke Obie of Black Girl Watching called Jaafar Jackson’s performance “the best thing about this production.” Other than that, Obie thought the movie was “a soulless money-grab” by the Jackson estate and the singer’s family.
Bill Goodykoontz of the Arizona Republic complained the film avoided Jackson’s flaws.
“Director Antoine Fuqua plays it safe as milk — the film’s story ends before accusations of sexual abuse were lodged against Jackson, before the money troubles, and well before his untimely death,” Goodykoontz wrote.
But critics were not the target audience, Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s head of marketplace trends, told me last weekend.
“Michael was indeed critic-proof and by staying away from the more controversial elements of Jackson’s life, the film delivered exactly what fans of the iconic popstar around the globe were looking for in a big screen adaptation of his storied life,” Dergarabedian said.
There’s already talk of a sequel, so perhaps the next film will focus more on the storytelling.
Check out an interview below with Colman Domingo on the biggest challenge he faced playing Joe Jackson.
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