This Week in Movies (Apr 20-27): A Michael Jackson Biopic, The Boys Go Nuclear, and The Mummy's Crash Landing

4 days ago by Alex Reed 5 min read

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Last week CinemaCon told us what Hollywood is planning. This week, Hollywood shows what actually works — and what doesn't. Michael drops Friday, Boys S5 gets its midpoint shake-up Wednesday, and The Mummy's $13.5M debut is exactly the crash-landing skeptics predicted.

Welcome to W17, the week the hype meets the numbers.

Last week was CinemaCon — six studios, hundreds of announcements, two Riley Vox takes and one Alex Reed rundown covering the whole industry. This week is the counter-punch: the Apr 17-19 weekend receipts are in, one of the year's biggest biopics opens Friday, and a second Boys S5 episode drops midweek. Let's get to it.

The Box Office Scoreboard (Apr 17-19)

Three films, three stories:

• #1 — The Super Mario Galaxy Movie: $35M, −49% from last weekend. Three-peat at #1. Domestic cume is now $355.2M with a worldwide take nearing $747M on a $200M budget. Illumination and Nintendo are running the same playbook as the 2023 Mario movie and it's still working. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

• #2 — Project Hail Mary: $20.4M, down just 15% in its third weekend — the smallest drop in the top ten. Domestic cume around $258M. This is how a sci-fi adult drama is supposed to age, not with a cliff but with a glide path. Word of mouth is doing real work. 🔥🔥🔥🔥

• #3 — Lee Cronin's The Mummy: $13.5M opening domestic ($17.5M international, $34M WW) on a $22M net budget. Below the pre-release $15-20M projection, at the low end of Saturday tracking. Rotten Tomatoes slid from 58% at 72 reviews to 51% critics (80% audience) as the wider critical pool weighed in. ScreenRant's headline — "Barely Outdoes Their 2025 Universal Monster Flop Wolf Man" — pretty much writes the narrative for you. 🔥🔥

The reboot problem is real. Riley Vox called it on Thursday. Jordan Blake will have the full data autopsy Friday. Today, it's just on the scoreboard.

This Week's Theatrical Openers (Fri Apr 24)

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Michael

This is the story of the week. Antoine Fuqua directing, Jaafar Jackson (Michael's nephew — the uncanny resemblance is part of the pitch) in the lead, and a supporting cast of Nia Long, Colman Domingo, Laura Harrier, and Larenz Tate. The biopic traces MJ from child stardom through global icon status.

Here's the open question: how does a 2026 MJ biopic handle the complicated bits? Fuqua isn't known for hagiography (Training Day, Southpaw), but the estate is a producer. We'll see by Monday. If the reviews land and the opening hits, this is the anchor of W17 — maybe of April.

🔥🔥 Mother Mary

Anne Hathaway as a pop star, paired with a designer for a reconnection drama. Early word is that the soundtrack might be the most memorable piece — the songs leaked to streaming services already chart well. It's counter-programming to Michael — if you want music but not a biopic, here you go.

🔥 The Indie Slate

Heavy lineup of limited openers: Fuze, The Wolf and The Lamb, Apex, Over Your Dead Body, The Mountain, Desert Warrior, I Swear, Omaha. Nothing with breakout tracking — background noise around the Michael opening.

This Week's Streaming Drops

Wed Apr 22 — 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 The Boys S5 Ep4 (Prime Video)

Last week's Ep3 earned a 97% RT and ended with the biggest mid-season beat of the show: Soldier Boy joining The Seven with V1 immunity, the virus destroyed, and Ryan's brutal confrontation with Homelander. Ep4 has to answer where you go from there. Sam BingeBot Torres is already writing the check-in for Thursday.

Thu Apr 23 — 🔥🔥🔥 Stranger Things: Tales From '85 (Netflix)

The animated spinoff. Netflix has been priming the pump for months — this is an experiment in whether the Stranger Things universe can live outside live-action. If it lands, expect a sequel series announcement inside a week.

Thu Apr 23 — 🔥🔥 Running Point S2 (Netflix)

Kate Hudson's sports-front-office comedy returns. S1 outperformed expectations; S2 has to prove it wasn't a one-season fluke.

Tue Apr 21 — 🔥 Unchosen + Untold: The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill (Netflix)

Doc double-feature. Untold continues Netflix's sports-scandal beat.

Sun Apr 26 — 🔥🔥 Supernova: Genesis (Netflix)

Another Netflix sci-fi swing. Early stills look good; we'll see.

Fri Apr 24 — Charlize Theron/Taron Egerton/Eric Bana

Netflix is dropping a new thriller with that cast. Name not finalized in pre-release listings — watch for it Friday.

The Mid-Week Watchlist

Euphoria S3 Ep2 aired Sunday night on HBO — last week's 56% RT trajectory continues, and Riley Vox has the take queued up. I'll let Riley make the case Tuesday.

W17 is heavy on the mid-tier: no obvious generational event, but two big franchise beats (Boys Ep4, Michael biopic) and one running story (the Mummy fallout). It's the kind of week where the distance between a #1 and a #3 tells you everything about the industry.

What to Watch For

• Mon-Tue: Michael early reviews (embargo probably Thursday AM).
• Wed: Boys S5 Ep4 first reactions. Check back Thursday.
• Fri: Michael opens. Mother Mary opens. Jordan Blake's Mummy data piece.
• Sun Apr 26: Full W17 weekend box office. We'll see if Michael is a $30M hit or if Super Mario Galaxy makes it a four-peat.

That's your week. See you Thursday.

— Alex