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Jackson family members and celebrities descended on a gala red carpet at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles for the movie premiere which had been hyped as the last-ever performance by the "King of Pop."
The Los Angeles screening mirrored events being held in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America before the movie makes its formal release on Wednesday.
Advance tickets in several countries sold out within days last month, as fans scrambled to be among the first to see a film billed by Sony Pictures as the movie of "a concert that never happened."
Video footage from the rehearsals had been intended to help organizers critique the show and was never intended for public viewing. Sony bought the footage for 60 million dollars after executives saw only several minutes.
The movie got a stamp of approval from Jackson's long-time friend and confidante, actress Elizabeth Taylor, who was privy to a sneak preview.
Taylor, who recently underwent heart surgery, hailed the movie as the "single most brilliant piece of filmmaking I have ever seen" in a tweet on micro-blogging site Twitter. "It cements forever Michael's genius in every aspect of creativity."
