It’s not a great movie, and no one cares.
Michael Jackson fans turned out in force around the world this weekend. They drove receipts for “Michael,” directed Antoine Fuqua, to around $217.4 million counting every country. In the US, $97 million.
So Lions Gate says.
The result is the biggest opening ever for a musical biopic.
Damn the critics, which gave it a 40% on Rotten Tomatoes, including yours truly.
The movie is fact free, riddled with narrative issues. But no one blinked an eye. They just wanted to see Michael Jackson sing and dance, moonwalk, twirl around, and perform the most popular music since the Beatles.
Indeed, Jackson’s three main albums — “Thriller,” “Bad,” and “Off the Wall” — are in the Amazon top 10.
The huge amount of money is partially because the film opened in 1,700 IMAX theaters, almost half its venues in the US. The prices are high — up to $30 in some locations. That’s twice the price of a regular movie ticket in the most expensive theater.
Fuqua’s movie and its success says nothing about truthfulness, which is no longer an issue in the Trump-verse. It’s about entertainment. It’s 17 years since Michael Jackson died, but his music has never gone away despite lingering accusations of child molestation. The audience was thirsty to see the King of Pop again, and that’s what Fuqua gave them. No third act? No problem.
Kudos to the producers also for casting Michael’s real life nephew, Jaafar Jackson, to play his uncle. That was value added for fans, who couldn’t get enough of the story. And to be the son of the man who sang “Word to the Badd,” and wrote a book about resenting his brother — well, that’s PR lightning in a bottle.
