The MJ Biopic Is Earning $12M Despite a 42% Rotten Tomatoes Score and His Own Family Calling It a Betrayal

The MJ Biopic Is Earning $12M Despite a 42% Rotten Tomatoes Score and His Own Family Calling It a Betrayal

Jaafar Jackson trained for years to play his uncle, and early crowds are buying it — exit polls are glowing, with audiences praising the film's electric recreation of the Thriller era. Overseas markets have been packing theatres since the midweek debut. Domestically, tonight's U.S. previews are tracking at $12–13 million despite critics largely writing it off.

The family is a different story. Director Antoine Fuqua's 2-hour-31-minute film doesn't shy away from the 1993 child abuse allegations — the exact material the Jacksons reportedly begged producers to leave alone. Paris Jackson posted a cryptic Instagram story last month shadeing the project's "music-forward" promise, while Jermaine Jackson used the word "betrayal." The estate had hoped the biopic would be a legacy restoration. What they got instead was a courtroom drama wrapped in dance montages.

Audiences, it turns out, wanted both — and they're voting with their wallets.

Gobble's Take: A 42% on Rotten Tomatoes and a family revolt, and it's still winning the weekend — MJ's hold on pop culture is apparently critic-proof.

Sources: Hollywood Reporter · E! News

Law Roach Is Done Dressing Zendaya — He's Dressing Ice Cream Now

The man who put Zendaya in a chess-piece Thierry Mugler look and made the entire internet lose its mind has a new client: Magnum ice cream bars. Law Roach has been named the brand's inaugural "Taste Architect" and will curate a full runway show on the Cannes Croisette next month, during the film festival, where models will strut in what he's calling "House of Magnum."

Roach says the partnership makes sense because Magnum shares his philosophy — "intention over impulse" — and he's treating this like a legitimate fashion moment, not a brand deal he's phoning in. His track record backs that up: those Dune press tour looks he styled for Zendaya are still being dissected on fashion Reddit years later.

Cannes runs May 13–24, which means the French Riviera will be hosting both the Palme d'Or race and a chocolate-dipped couture show simultaneously — and somehow the ice cream might get more Instagram coverage.

Gobble's Take: Law Roach turned a red carpet into a chessboard and a press tour into a fashion exhibition — a Magnum bar doesn't stand a chance of staying ordinary in his hands.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

The Man Who Created Iron Man Tried to Talk the Russos Out of Killing Him

When Jon Favreau sat down at the Avengers: Endgame table read in 2018, his first instinct was panic. He'd built Tony Stark from scratch on a $140 million gamble back in 2008 — a film nobody was sure would work, starring a actor Hollywood had written off — and now the script was asking him to watch that character die.

Favreau pulled Kevin Feige aside with his concerns. He worried the death would devastate the younger fans who'd grown up with RDJ's version of Tony. The Russo brothers and Feige held firm. The snap stayed. And with Endgame going on to earn $2.8 billion at the global box office, Favreau has since come around completely, calling the ending "wonderful." He still built the whole machine, though — which makes his original hesitation the most human thing about a $30 billion franchise.

Knowing the architect of the MCU once begged to save Tony Stark makes that final scene hit about ten times harder on rewatch.

Gobble's Take: The guy who invented the MCU wanted a different ending — and the fact that he was wrong is exactly why Endgame still wrecks you.

Source: Collider

Olivia Rodrigo Just Landed Her Fourth Number One in Australia Before Turning 25

"Drop Dead" debuted at No. 1 on Australia's ARIA chart this week, making Olivia Rodrigo the owner of four Australian chart-toppers before her 25th birthday — joining "Drivers License" (six weeks at the top in 2021), "Good 4 U" (five weeks), and "Vampire" (2023). No major U.S. radio push, no promo tour down under. Just streams, driven entirely by fans.

It's her first number one since the GUTS stadium tour wrapped, and it lands during a stretch when most pop stars her age are still trying to nail their first hit. For comparison, Taylor Swift didn't rack up four Australian number ones until well into her career's second chapter.

Australia has apparently adopted Olivia Rodrigo as its own — and she hasn't even had to show up.

Gobble's Take: Four Australian number ones before 25, zero visits required — Olivia Rodrigo is running an empire from her bedroom and it's working.

Source: Billboard

Quick Hits

• Demi Lovato goes deeper: The deluxe edition of It's Not That Deep dropped today with 8 new bonus tracks — raw, piano-heavy cuts that feel less like bonus material and more like the therapy sessions that didn't make the first cut. Billboard
• Shaboozey saddles up again: Fresh off dominating country radio for most of 2024, Shaboozey is back with "Born to Die," a new track that leans hard into his outlaw persona and suggests the A Bar Song era isn't over yet. Billboard
• Weekend streaming homework: Collider rounded up three near-perfect films currently on Netflix worth your Saturday night, including Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners — a 153-minute crime thriller that some critics argue is better than Dune. Collider

In Case You Missed It

Yesterday's top stories:

• Rami Malek and Tom Sturridge's Steamy '80s NYC Drama Is About to Dominate Cannes
• Duran Duran and Nile Rodgers Just Dropped the Song That Turns Your Commute Into Studio 54
• Netflix's Stranger Things Animated Spinoff Is Already Getting Torched by Critics — But One Voice Is Saving It
• Elsa Pataky Convinced Chris Hemsworth to Cameo in Her New Thriller — And She Was the One Running the Set