Two Lord Of The Rings Movies Officially Overtaken By New $959M Biopic At The Global Box Office

Jun 24, 2026 - 01:11

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Two Lord Of The Rings Movies Officially Overtaken By New $959M Biopic At The Global Box Office

Published Jun 23, 2026, 5:14 PM EDT

Matthew Rudoy is one of ScreenRant's Movie & TV News Editors. He covers the latest in movie & TV news, with a focus on major franchises like Star Wars, The Boys, and Game of Thrones, and also writes some features and reviews. He wrote lists for ScreenRant from 2017-2022, became a news writer in 2023, a senior staff writer in 2024, and an editor in 2025.

A new biopic has defeated two The Lord of the Rings movies at the global box office.

All the live-action The Lord of the Rings franchise movies have been massive box office hits. Return of the King and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey both grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, and The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies all earned more than $897 million globally.

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Now, as per Deadline and Box Office Mojo, the Michael biopic has overtaken The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on the all-time global box office chart. After earning an additional $13.6 million this past weekend, $5.4 million of which came from Japan, the Michael Jackson movie has now reached a cumulative total of $959.6 million. This surpasses The Two Towers' $945.6 million and The Desolation of Smaug's $959.1 million.

With this latest milestone, Michael is at number 72 on the all-time global box office chart, followed by The Desolation of Smaug at 73 and The Two Towers at 75. Prior to this, the new movie already became the highest-grossing music biopic of all time, with the previous record-holder being Bohemian Rhapsody. At $1.07 billion worldwide, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is the only 2026 film to have made more money than Michael.

Reaching $959.6 million is even more impressive since Michael has been available to watch at home via digital purchase or rental since June 9. While it has been in U.S. theaters for about two months following the April 24 debut, it opened later in some other markets. The Japan theatrical release was on June 12, the recency of which helped more than a third of last weekend's box office earnings come from there.

There is still a chance of it becoming the second movie of the year to reach the $1 billion mark. After two months in U.S. theaters and being available on digital for a few weeks, Michael is unlikely to go much further than that at the box office, but regardless, it has had a stellar run, and along with the aforementioned records, it is Lionsgate's highest-grossing movie of all time.

While the box office success is undeniable, Michael's reviews have been more divided. ScreenRant's Liz Declan gave it nine out of 10 stars and hailed it for being "a masterclass in what a biopic should be." Compared to the majority of other critics, her praise is in the minority, as it has a 38% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, as indicated by the "Verified Hot" 97% Popcornmeter score, audiences generally loved it, which has been critical to the financial success of the theatrical run.

Michael was directed by Antoine Fuqua and stars Michael Jackson's real-life nephew Jaafar Jackson in the titular role. The cast also includes Colman Domingo as Joseph Jackson, Nia Long as Katherine Jackson, and Miles Teller as John Branca.