Just when it looked like The Devil Wears Prada 2 was settling into a comfortable reign atop the box office, Michael made it a thriller. Lionsgate’s Michael earned another $26.1 million in its fourth weekend, pushing its domestic total to $282.8 million and an eye-popping $703.9 million worldwide.
The real surprise is not that audiences love Michael Jackson. It’s how the film is performing.
Rather than behaving like a traditional musical biopic that burns fast and fades quickly, Michael has evolved into something closer to a theatrical concert event. Younger audiences discovering Jackson through TikTok and YouTube are turning out alongside older moviegoers who grew up during the Thriller and Bad eras.
Critics have been far less enthusiastic, with the film holding a 39% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences, meanwhile, have responded with a massive 97% audience rating, essentially overpowering the reviews through pure nostalgia, music, spectacle, and repeat business.
The comparison most often floated is Bohemian Rhapsody, but Michael is currently running well ahead of that film’s pace after 24 days in theaters.
Meanwhile, Disney’s The Devil Wears Prada 2 continues proving there is still serious theatrical demand for smart, adult-focused entertainment. The sequel added another $18 million this weekend, bringing its domestic total to $175.9 million and worldwide box office to $546.2 million.
Nearly two decades after the original film became a pop culture staple, Prada 2 has successfully tapped into multi-generational nostalgia while leaning into themes that still resonate today: ambition, burnout, workplace pressure, image culture, and reinvention.
And yes, Miranda Priestly still runs the room.
The weekend’s biggest breakout story, however, may belong to Focus Features’ Obsession.
The psychological horror film debuted with $16.1 million against a reported $1 million budget, instantly positioning itself as one of the year’s most profitable releases already.
Directed by rising horror filmmaker Curry Barker, Obsession blends romance, body horror, dark comedy, and toxic obsession into a deeply unsettling story about a wish that turns affection into violent dependency. Critics and audiences alike have embraced it, with both currently sitting at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Elsewhere, Mortal Kombat II dropped to fourth place with $13.4 million but continues outperforming the pandemic-era 2021 reboot, while Amazon MGM’s quirky original The Sheep Detectives quietly continues building word-of-mouth momentum with $9.3 million in its second weekend.
Overall, the domestic box office reached $106 million for the weekend, slightly ahead of the same frame last year.
Now the industry turns its attention toward Memorial Day and Disney’s upcoming The Mandalorian and Grogu, which faces the unenviable challenge of following last year’s massive holiday combo punch of Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
But if this weekend demonstrated anything, it’s that audiences are still showing up for theaters when studios give them movies that actually feel like events.
Weekend Box Office 5/15–5/17
| Rank | Title | Wk | Theatres | Weekend | % Change | Average/Theatre | Total |
| 1 | Michael (Lionsgate) | 4 | 3,560 | $26,125,000 | -31 | $7,338 | $282,797,000 |
| 2 | The Devil Wears Prada 2 (20th Century) | 3 | 3,830 | $18,000,000 | -57 | $4,700 | $175,862,196 |
| 3 | Obsession (Focus) | 1 | 2,615 | $16,100,000 | — | $6,157 | $16,100,000 |
| 4 | Mortal Kombat II (Warner Bros.) | 2 | 3,534 | $13,400,000 | -65 | $3,792 | $62,233,000 |
| 5 | The Sheep Detectives (Amazon MGM) | 2 | 3,554 | $9,319,616 | -38 | $2,622 | $29,661,000 |
| 6 | The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (Universal) | 7 | 2,793 | $4,450,000 | -33 | $1,593 | $418,619,000 |
| 7 | Project Hail Mary (Amazon MGM) | 9 | 2,177 | $3,898,295 | -41 | $1,791 | $334,854,000 |
| 8 | Top Gun 40th Anniversary (Paramount) | 1 | 2,295 | $3,100,000 | — | $1,351 | $4,794,000 |
| 9 | In the Grey (Black Bear) | 1 | 2,018 | $3,005,000 | — | $1,489 | $3,005,000 |
| 10 | Is God Is (Amazon MGM) | 1 | 1,510 | $2,222,342 | — | $1,472 | $2,222,342 |
Weekend Total: $99,620,253
(Courtesy of Comscore)
REELated:
Focus Features’ Obsession turns a simple wish into a nightmare
