Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.
UPDATE: 2026/05/17 08:02 EST BY BRENNAN KLEIN
Michael's $25-28M Saturday Projections Hold Strong, Movie Still #1
This article was originally written Saturday AM and has been updated Sunday AM with up-to-date box office projections (in bold). Scroll down for a full chart and further analysis.
In addition to earning a less-than-stellar 39% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the controversial Michael Jackson biopic has drawn criticism for its sunny depiction of the King of Pop that doesn't touch on the star's allegations of child sexual abuse. However, in spite of those factors, it has become an enormous success, quickly becoming the second music biopic in history to surpass the $600 million milestone worldwide (behind 2018's Bohemian Rhapsody) in the middle of a run that could potentially make it the first billion-dollar music biopic in history.
Lionsgate has announced that, as of Sunday morning, Michael is projected to earn a 3-day total of $26.1 million by the end of its fourth weekend in domestic theaters. This total should allow it to return to No. 1 on the domestic box office chart for the weekend after it was pushed to No. 2 during its sophomore weekend behind The Devil Wears Prada 2 and to No. 3 the following weekend by the combined efforts of Devil Wears Prada and Mortal Kombat II.
2026's Michael has managed to rise back above both of the newer major releases thanks to another stellar week-on-week hold that sees it boasting a remarkably narrow drop of 31%. However, neither of the titles that it has usurped is performing poorly. The Devil Wears Prada 2 has simply been knocked to No. 2 with a projected $18 million (per Variety), representing a 57% drop in its third weekend.
This weekend, the Meryl Streep sequel is set to become only the fourth movie of the year to pass the $175 million domestic milestone. However, it has been thwarted in its attempt to match The Super Mario Galaxy Movie's record of consecutive No. 1 weekends, so the animated smash hit remains the longest-running No. 1 domestic title of the year so far with three weekends at the top of the chart.
Meanwhile, Mortal Kombat II is dropping 65% from its opening weekend (which was the best domestic debut of the four-film Mortal Kombat franchise) to hit No. 4 with a projected $13.4 million. While the movie is more sluggish than expected, it will earn back its reported $80 million budget worldwide by the end of the weekend, putting it in a reasonably solid position to potentially end up in the black by the end of its run.
It has been knocked an extra space down the chart by the buzzy new horror movie Obsession. The Curry Barker-directed feature is set to debut at No. 3 with a $16 million gross. While it was unable to unseat either The Devil Wears Prada or Michael, its reported budget is just $1 million, so it has already shot past its estimated break-even point of $2.5 million and then some.
By facing down all of this competition, Michaelhas officially become the first movie to return to No. 1 at the domestic box office in six months, since Zootopia 2 reclaimed the crown during its third weekend, after being knocked down to No. 2 by Five Nights at Freddy's 2 during its sophomore outing. Additionally, the last time a movie returned to No. 1 during its fourth weekend was when the 2025 smash hit Weapons was briefly interrupted in its run at the top of the chart by the sing-along release of Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters during its third weekend.
Below, see the full domestic Top 5 chart for the weekend:
#
Title
3-Day Total
Cumulative (Domestic)
1
Michael
$26.1 million
$283.1 million (weekend 4)
2
The Devil Wears Prada 2
$18 million
$175.9 million (weekend 3)
3
Obsession
$16 million
$16 million(weekend 1)
4
Mortal Kombat II
$13.4 million
$62.2 million (weekend 2)
5
The Sheep Detectives
$9.32 million
$29.7 million (weekend 2)
While Michael's rise back to the top saw the holdover titles reshuffling, the fact that Obsession was the only new release to chart (Guy Ritchie's In the Grey debuted at No. 9 with $3 million while the thriller Is God Is was even more underwhelming, hitting No. 10 with $2.2 million) means that only one title was ejected from the Top 5. That would be the James Cameron and Billie Eilish-directed concert documentary Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour, which fell from No. 5 out of the Top 10 entirely. However, concert movies are almost always entirely frontloaded.
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Credit: Glen Wilson / © Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection
Credit: Macall Polay /© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection
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