Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures
Michael Jackson's This Is It (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures)
Michael Jackson’s This Is It takes over the world
This is it: it’s finally here! The late Michael Jackson has delivered a posthumous thriller to his fans, who flocked to worldwide premieres of his much-anticipated documentary film, titled This Is It – billed as the final concert performance of the King of Pop.
Four months after MJ's untimely death, red carpets were rolled out on Wednesday (28.10.2009) for 18 simultaneous screenings on five continents. This Is It was gathered from more than 100 hours of footage taken from rehearsals for the pop icon's comeback tour slated to begin in July 2009.
The premiere of This Is It was like a worldwide carnival: The Los Angeles premiere began as parts of the city were plunged into darkness as punishing gusts downed dozens of power lines. In Beijing, a troupe of MJ impersonators grabbed their, errmm, manhoods and Moonwalk-ed for hundreds of screaming fans as the movie premiered in China. In Tokyo, fans flocked to the "King of Pop" shop stacked with Jackson T-shirts, DVDs, postcards and other items celebrating the music legend, ahead of the film's Japan premiere in the evening.
The advance ticket sales to shows in several were snapped up within days as fans scrambled to be among the first to see a film billed as the movie of "a concert that never happened." On the local front, Sony Pictures released a statement saying that MJ’s This Is It recorded the highest admission on the opening day for a Musical Film to date. Way to go, Michael!
