Hubby The Editor

Every legend has a beginning. MICHAEL – in theaters & IMAX April 24. Tickets on sale NOW: tickets.michael.movie

And yeah, general ticket Pre-sales for the KING OF POP #MichaelJackson music biopic #MICHAEL’s opening weekend at US #BoxOffice had a solid kick off yesterday, despite hardcore fans already having concentrated on the PLF early screenings pre-sales which kicked off earlier. Different kick offs for early screenings & general tickets always makes comps muddier, so, focusing on #MICHAEL’s general pre-sales only first, they started 1.1x ahead of #ProjectHailMary’s general pre-sales kick off, and an almost 4x bigger kickoff than #Elvis’s and even #SINNERS’s (which debuted on the same weekend last year by the way, and performed especially well within the black moviegoing demo and its incredible 49% turnout - what I expect could play a key role for #MICHAEL as well). #MICHAEL’s solid kick off is particularly strong for a music biopic - surely the biggest for the genre - and it doesn’t seem to be frontloaded by fans only, since those hardcore fans have been already heavy lifting the WED early screenings. Pre-sales for Friday Opening Day for instance were higher than the ones for THU previews, which is very unusual, but understandable due to the PLF early screenings on WED taking most of the early bird fans away from THU Previews here. A FRI higher than THU Previews in a pre-sales kick off could indicate broader appeal and better walk up potential, especially for releases with large fan bases, as hardcore fans always focus on seeing a film first chance, on the best theatres/seats possible, while casuals put more weight on time, price, proximity and convenience. Fans are showing up earlier, though. The pre-sales for PLF early screenings on APR 22 are one of the strongest I’ve seen for this kind of special early showings in the last 2 years: 1.6x better than #DunePartTwo, and almost on par with #WickedForGood. Several theatres are already sold out or just about, and we are still a month away from the film’s debut. But the ace #MICHAEL could have under its sleeves to break out is its potential to bring two worlds together: the fan frontloaded event & the slow burn event combined in one, as it also has potential appeal to older demos and casuals overall, who usually don’t buy in advance, but contribute to those juicy walk ups during opening weekend and beyond instead, once - and IF - they hear things that could motivate them to go and see what the fuzz is about. And if WOM comes as strong from those PLF early showings as it came after #ProjectHailMary & #DunePartTwo’s early screenings for instance, walk ups effect could be as powerful for #Michael. Obviously, as we always remind folks, kick off days by themselves don’t mean anything. But If pre-sales remain with the current pace, #MICHAEL would be on track to not only easily beat #BohemianRhapsody’s 51.1M 3-day weekend as BIGGEST opening of ALL TIME for a music biopic, but would be aiming at an ALL TIME Top10 Debut for APR releases, beating #SonicTheHedgehog2 & even potentially challenging #FastFive’s 86.2M 3-day opening at US #BoxOffice as the #9 BIGGEST EVER for APR. But… what if pacing actually breaks out, especially compared to #SINNERS (which actually broke out in pre-sales after the incredible reactions only 2 weeks prior debuting)? Then, we could start talking about even higher goals. #MICHAEL debuts on APR 24, with early screenings on APR 22.

Sounding a mini-alarm about @michaelmovie presales and @Lionsgate marketing. They aren't great and trending in the wrong direction. Still time to recover this in the next 3 weeks, but no longer looking like the potential mega-opener it should be. Closer to $40m type than $100m.