Weekend Box Office: MICHAEL Never Can Say Goodbye to No. 1

Key Takeaways

Total 3-Day Weekend Gross:
$106,008,849 | -41.8% Last Week / +1.17% Weekend 20, 2025

Studios declined to drop any competitive new tentpoles in the pre-Memorial Day slot, resulting in an expected steep overall drop from the last frame. This void allowed Michael to twirl back to #1 in Frame 4, a rare occurrence, while the tiny horror flick Obsession became a sleeper smash at 16X its reported budget already (not counting P&A). Overall, we are a bit ahead year-over-year from this frame in 2025 when Final Destination: Bloodlines was atop the box office.

• Top Title: Michael (Lionsgate) | $26.1M / 3,560 Screens / $7,338 PSA | Week 4
• Top Opener: Obsession (Focus Features) | $16.1M / 2,615 Screens / $6,157 PSA | Week 1
• Best PSA: Forge (Utopia) | $27K / 1 Screen / $27,000 PSA | Week 1

1. Michael
Lionsgate | Week 4
$26.1M 3-Day Weekend | $282.79M Domestic Total
$703.85M Global Total

It was anyone’s game this weekend, but Lionsgate’s biopic Michael took the phrase “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough” to its apex as it climbed back to the #1 position it held during its Frame 17 debut. The film only dropped -31% in its fourth week for $26.1M from 3,560 screens for a $7,338 Per Screen Average. Our panel originally predicted a close call for #1, but it was far from competitive, with Michael exceeding expectations and the #2 movie, The Devil Wears Prada 2, finishing at the low end of our forecasted range, dropping -57% to an estimated $18M in its third frame.

The domestic total is now $282.79M, making an eventual de-throning of Oppenheimer ($330M domestic) as the #1 domestic biopic ever a real possibility. With Mortal Kombat II flailing, many IMAX and PLF screens brought Michael back for one last dance in 1,100 locations (the same as Frame 2), hence the bump in ticket sales.

Here’s how the 3-Day looked…

• Friday – $7M
• Saturday – $10.9M
• Sunday – $8.18M

Overseas, Michael moonwalked past the $700M landmark with $703.85M in global earnings. New dated market of Korea opened #1 at $4.9M this weekend for a total of $57.7M from 83 territories, with Japan bowing next month. The top 3 markets are the UK & Ireland ($54.6M), France ($41.1M), and Germany ($27.39M).

3. Obsession
Focus Features | New
$16.1M 3-Day Opening Weekend | $23.1M Global Total

After Jordan Peele and Zach Cregger, another comedian has become a horror auteur. Focus Features and Blumhouse funded the internet’s Curry Barker for a Monkey’s paw style $1M budgeted horror film Obsession, which landed at #3 with an estimated $16.1M from 2,615 screens for a $6,157 PSA. The performance is comparable to the $17.8M opening of Markiplier’s similar low-budget indie Iron Lung.

Here’s how the 3-Day looked, including $2.6M in Thursday previews…

• Friday – $6.9M
• Saturday – $5.4M
• Sunday – $3.7M

This over-indexing exceeded even the wildest expectations while landing an “A-” CinemaScore, 94% Rotten Tomatoes critical and 94% audience score. Ticket buyers were 59% male vs. 41% female, while the largest age quad was 25–34’s at 39%.

Here’s how demographics looked…

• Caucasian – 39%
• Hispanic – 32%
• African American – 12%
• Asian – 12%
• Native American/other – 5%

Overseas, the movie landed $7M for a global bow of $23.1M.

Other Notable Performances

WB’s Mortal Kombat II suffered a fatality with a steep -65% drop, proving its sturdy $38.5M opening last frame was a fans-only affair. With an estimated $13.4M from 3,534 screens at #4, the movie’s domestic total is now at $62.2M, surpassing the original’s $42.3M domestic take, while the global earnings have punched past $100M with $101.2M, again surpassing the first’s WW total ($84.4M).

Two more under-promoted newcomers barely made a dent, including Guy Ritchie’s In the Grey (44% RT) at #9 with $3M, and the well-reviewed (97% RT) thriller Is God Is at #10 with $2.2M.

Next Weekend

Historically, Memorial Day weekend has been the playground of Star Wars, and The Mandalorian and Grogu will attempt to re-stake the claim after Solo: A Star Wars Story sputtered in this 2018 slot with an $84.4M bow. The title characters’ transition from the small to big screen may prove a rocky road, as early reactions out of the premiere are tepid in essentially calling it an extended and inconsequential episode of the Disney+ series. Counter-programming arrives in the form of Paramount’s Passenger, a new supernatural horror film from André Øvredal, and Boots Riley’s crime comedy I Love Boosters from Neon.

Sunday Studio Estimates | Weekend 20 – 2026
Total 3-Day Domestic Gross: $106,008,849 | (+1.17% vs 2025)