When it was initially released, there was some speculation that the musical biopic “Michael” wouldn’t be available for streaming any time soon. Those fears proved wrong. “Michael,” which made its theatrical debut April 24, is now available on premium video on demand. It hit the streaming market June 9.
The film is directed by Antoine Fuqua and stars Jaafar Jackson — who is the son of Jermaine Jackson and nephew of the late pop icon — as Michael Jackson in his teen and adult years. The film chronicles the life of the singer as a 10-year-old (Juliano Valde) with his brothers in The Jackson 5 through his tour for his “Bad” album in 1988. The PG-13 film also stars Colman Domingo and Nia Long as Michael Jackson’s parents, Joe Jackson and Katherine Jackson, and Miles Teller as the singer-songwriter’s longtime manager, John Branca.
Lionsgate made the announcement earlier that it would be available to purchase on PVOD for $24.99 on such digital platforms as Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Prime Video, and YouTube Movies & TV.
Since digital rentals are typically $5 less than purchase prices, Michael should be available to rent on PVOD for $19.99 for a 48-hour period.
The film has been a blockbuster, earning $97 million in North American ticket sales for its opening week. At the start of this week, “Michael” to date had earned $340.1 million domestically and $509.6 million internationally for a worldwide box office tally of $849.7 million. It had a production budget of $200 million before marketing costs, according to Variety.
Currently, “Michael” is the second highest-grossing music biopic of all time, behind the Queen and Freddie Mercury 2018 biopic, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which earned more than $900 million worldwide. It hasn’t gotten widespread critical praise. Rotten Tomatoes critics largely blasted “Michael” with a 38% “rotten” critics’ score on the site’s Tomatometer — among the criticisms were that the film played it too safe, but that didn’t have any impact on its commercial success.
Currently, “Michael” has a 97 percent “fresh” score on RT’s Popcornmeter based on 25,000-plus verified user ratings.
In addition to its digital release, “Michael” will be released on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on July 14.
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