Lionsgate’s Michael Jackson biopic Michael dominated the North American box office in its opening weekend with $97 million, according to data from measurement firm Comscore released on Sunday.

“Michael” also took in a reported $120.4 million from international markets for an estimated $217.4 million worldwide through Sunday.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the film tells the story of Michael Jackson’s life beyond the music, highlighting both his life off-stage and some of the most iconic performances from his early solo career.

On the review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of just 38 per cent based on 210 critic reviews, while its audience score stands at an impressive 97 per cent positive.

After leading the North American box office for three consecutive weeks, Universal and Illumination’s animated adventure film The Super Mario Galaxy Movie slipped to second place in this fourth weekend, grossing $21.2 million for a North American total of $386.5 million.

Rounding out the top three, Amazon MGM Studio’s science fiction film Project Hail Mary generated $13.2 million in its sixth weekend for a domestic cume of $305.4 million.

• A Tell Media /Xinhua report