Chris Wasser

So for the Michael Jackson film, as controversial as it is, and given the overwhelmingly negative response from critics, to gross that much money, 270 million is an astonishing feat.

I wasn't expecting that.

I did think when watching this, this thing is, despite its troubles, and there are a lot of troubles, this thing is going to be a hit.

And bear in mind too, it hasn't been released everywhere.

It's still to be released in Japan later this summer, and there's a huge Michael Jackson fan base there.

So I think that figure is going to keep climbing.

Yeah, potentially the controversial aspect might have something to do with it.

But if people are paying attention to the reviews, and I think they are, even the filmmakers have come out to defend themselves from the bad reviews, they'll know that there is nothing controversial in this film.

I think it's more to do with the fact that Michael Jackson, to a lot of people around the world, is still a sensation.

He's in the top 50 of the most listened to artists on Spotify.

His sales continue to soar in both physical album and streaming album releases.

There is huge Cirque du Soleil show one in Vegas running that's been a huge hit.

There's a musical, MJ the Musical, that's been so successful.

This show focuses very much on Michael's creative process, how he built a song, how he built a dance, how he put together a concept.

That was the reason that Graham King, who produced this thing, was turned on to the fact that, hey, maybe people might actually want to watch a film about this.

Despite all the allegations, despite all the controversy, Michael Jackson, in the eyes of millions of fans worldwide, is still an icon.

Yeah, witness the rise and completely ignore the fall.

Look, we've been subjected to some overly sanitized biopics over the years, Bohemian Rhapsody being a big one.

And if you've seen the posters for this thing around town, it's on the side of every bus, every building and

It does tell you that this is from the producers of Bohemian Rhapsody.