Michael Jackson's This Is It

Name	Michael Jackson's This Is It
Caption	Theatrical release poster
Director	Kenny Ortega
Producer	Michael JacksonRandy PhillipsKenny OrtegaPaul Gongaware
Starring	Michael Jackson
Music	Michael Jackson
Cinematography	Sandrine OrabonaTim Patterson
Studio	AEG LiveThe Michael Jackson Company, LLC
Distributor	Columbia Pictures
Released
Runtime	111 minutes
Country
Language	English
Budget	$60 million
Gross	$261,183,588
Preceded by	Michael Jackson's Ghosts

Michael Jackson's This Is It is a 2009 American documentary–concert film directed by Kenny Ortega that documents Michael Jackson's rehearsals and preparation for the concert series of the same name scheduled to start on July 13, 2009, but canceled due to his death eighteen days prior on June 25. It is the last film Jackson starred in. The film is now the highest grossing concert movie and documentary in the history of cinema. The film consists of Jackson rehearsing musical numbers and directing his team, and additional behind the scenes footage including dancer auditions and costume design. The film's director Kenny Ortega confirmed that none of this footage was originally intended for release, but after Jackson's death it was agreed that the film be made. The footage was filmed at the Staples Center and The Forum in California.

Despite originally being set for October 30, the film's release date was rescheduled for October 28, 2009, due to a strong demand by Jackson's fans. The film was given a worldwide release and a limited two-week theatrical run from October 28, to November 12, 2009, but theatrical release was later extended. Tickets went on sale a month early on September 27, to satisfy a high anticipated demand; to date, the film has broken numerous records via tickets both pre-sale and sales worldwide.

Since the film's confirmation, AEG Live has faced criticism; mostly consisting of claims that they had only made the film to make a profit. Multiple members of Jackson's family had confirmed that they did not support the film and some family members went as far as to try to stop the film agreement in August. The film has also been surrounded by allegations regarding the appearance of body doubles in place of Jackson; which Sony denied, and an outrage from some of Jackson fans; with some going as far as to start a protest against the film. In August 2009, a judge approved a deal between Jackson's estate, concert promoter AEG Live, and Sony Pictures. The agreement allowed Sony to edit the hundreds of hours of rehearsal footage needed to create the film. Sony subsequently paid $50 million for the film rights.

The film was released to mainly positive reviews from both critics and Jackson fans; the film's portrayal of Jackson and his performances were generally praised, while criticism mainly consisted of both critics and fans having felt that the film was made just to profit off Jackson's death and that Jackson wouldn't have wanted the film released because he was a "perfectionist".

Despite some fans boycotting the film, and his family not endorsing the movie, This Is It ticket sales broke international records a month before its release. It has broken advance ticket sales records for a movie. Among the cities with the strongest sales are Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston and New York. Records were also set in Japan, where more than $1 million in tickets were sold on the first day they were available. In London, fans bought more than 30,000 tickets on the first day. Record sales were also reported in Holland, Sweden, Belgium and New Zealand.

In the first opening weekend it grossed $101 million worldwide. The movie sold $32.5 million over its first five days in the U.S. and Canada, and $68.5 million in 97 other countries - making the number one film at the box office and making it the fifth highest-grossing Halloween debut. On its theatrical run, the film's worldwide revenue gross was in total $261 million, making it the highest grossing documentary/concert movie of all time. Jackson suggested possible post-show retirement: "I just wanted to say that these will be my final show performances in London. When I say this is it, it really means this is it," although he may have just been referring to performing in London. On March 11, two days before pre-sale began, an extra 40 dates were added to meet high demand, bringing the number of shows to 50 — five of these dates were reserved in their entirety for the public sale. Jackson's 50 dates would make the concerts the longest residency at the arena. In May, 2009, the tour was originally set to have begun on July 8, 2009, and finished on March 6, 2010. On May 20, 2009, it was announced that the first concert would be pushed back by eight days to July 16, and three other July dates would be rescheduled for March, 2010. AEG Live stated that the delay was necessary because more time was needed to prepare, mainly for dress rehearsals. The revised schedule called for 27 shows between July 16, and September 29, 2009, followed by a three month break, and resuming in 2010, with 23 more shows between January 7, and March 6, 2010. On June 29, 2009, only days after Jackson's death, AEG Live, the concert's promoter, offered ticket holders two choices - to either get refunded all the money spent of their ticket(s) or to keep the ticket(s) as a souvenir and memento by receiving the printed ticket that Jackson had designed himself.

Music

The album, titled This Is It was released internationally on October 26, and worldwide the following day. The album debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart with the sales of over 373,000 in its first week of release. The two-disc album features music 'that inspired the movie'. Sony said of the albums that: "Disc one will feature the original album masters of some of Michael's biggest hits arranged in the same sequence as they appear in the film" and stated that "the disc ends with two versions of the 'never-released' "This Is It". This song is featured in the film's closing sequence and includes backing vocals by Michael Jackson's brothers, The Jacksons." Sony also stated that the second disc will feature "previously unreleased versions" from Jackson's 'catalogue of hits' and that It will also include a spoken word poem entitled "Planet Earth" (which originally appeared in the liner notes of the Dangerous (1991) album) and a 36-page commemorative booklet with "photos of Michael [Jackson] from his last rehearsal".

Songs performed in the film

Notes

"Stranger in Moscow", "You Are Not Alone", "You Rock My World", "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough", "Rock with You", "Dirty Diana", "Bad", "Dangerous", "Will You Be There", "We Are the World", and "Heal the World" were also due to be rehearsed. It has been proven through pictures and DVD features that "Dirty Diana", "Dangerous", "Will You Be There", "We Are the World", and "Heal the World" were briefly rehearsed on June 23. "Stranger in Moscow" and "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" were also rehearsed, but the exact dates are unknown. At the final dates, Jackson wanted to perform the ballad "River Ripple", written by him, with an African choir and his children. The song, "Best of Joy", was written and recorded in 2009, and was slated to premiere during the final concert before "Man in the Mirror". The song was released as part of the posthumous album, Michael.

Production

The film's director and choreographer; Ortega stated that the rehearsal footage and concept of making a film to document the preparation of the concerts had come about as "an accident". "The recordings were made so we could use them, then the tapes were destined for Michael [Jackson]'s private library. They have a real unguarded honesty to them." The deal also included a merchandising agreement with Bravado International Group - the company is a division of Universal Music Group that is owned by Vivendi - so that they can distribute and sell "Jackson-themed products". The papers filed had also reportedly stated that Jackson's estate will get 90% of the profits and that AEG will get the remaining 10% from the film's revenue. In the agreement, Columbia and AEG Live both agreed in the deal that the final version of the film should be no longer than 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes), and that the film must attain a PG rating. The contract also stated that the film is not allowed to show footage of Jackson that shows him in a negative way, stating that: "Footage that paints Jackson in a bad light will not be permitted and "Under the terms of the proposed contract, the film will have to be screened for Jackson's estate and cannot include any footage that puts the superstar in a bad light."

Release

Marketing

On September 9, the film's official theatrical movie poster was released. On September 10, 2009, it was reported that MTV's Video Music Awards's, which at the time had already announced that they would honor Jackson at the show would premiere the film's first, and only known, trailer. The trailer premiered, as scheduled, right before the end of the VMAs show. The show was watched by a total of 9 million people; a 17% increase over 2008's show and the biggest ratings since the 2004 award show. On September 13, 2009, it was reported that a "secret Michael Jackson [promotional music] single is being produced" to promote the film, at which the film would have, at the time, been released the following month. It was reported that Jackson had recorded the song for release with his planned summer tour but after his death it was shelved until producers in Los Angeles remixed the vocals with an orchestral accompaniment. On October 9, it was confirmed that the song will debut online Monday at midnight - the song, will get its world premiere on MichaelJackson.com. On September 21, 2009, Sony released a 45-second clip of Jackson rehearsing his performance for "Human Nature" and also released stills from the video clip. As part of print marketing for the film Entertainment Weekly magazine did a cover story of the film for the magazine's October 16, 2009, issue, to collide with the films release for that same month. Also as part of promotion for the film, Entertainment Weekly released 8 "never before seen" movie stills from the film. On October 21, a clip of Jackson rehearsing The Way You Make Me Feel was released. On October 21, a 2 minute featurette of the film was released.

In September 2009, Sony launched "This-Is-It-Fans.com", which allows fans to sign up for an 'alert' so that they can be able to take part in 'Michael Jackson's This Is It mosaic', in which fans can upload photos to the website, beginning from September 21, to September 30, and the completed mosaic will be posted online on October 22; six days before the film's release. On September 24, 2009, MTV announced, after the success the project proved with New Moon, that they will allow MTV registered users, to "watch and comment on any scene" in the film's already released trailer." MTV described the project as "essentially [being] an in-video graphical overlay that allows users to comment on the video as it plays and review comments from other users.

Obtaining tickets

On September 25, 2009, lines opened at the courtyard outside the Nokia Theatre's L.A. Live complex in downtown Los Angeles. Dozens of people were waiting in line to purchase tickets three days before tickets went on sale through the box office. The L.A. Live complex; allowed people waiting in line the opportunity to bring chairs, one per person, and umbrellas due to the long wait ahead of them.

MTV stated that, "Fans in line are also eligible to receive commemorative 'Michael Jackson's This Is It' T-shirts and posters [...] They're also being invited to sign the memorial wall set up outside the theater, which is open for anyone who wants to leave a message or memory" for Jackson Jeff Labrecque of En commented, "Three months after Michael Jackson’s death, I’m still surprised by the passion of his fans." Bridget Daly of Hollyscoop commented on the waiting time for tickets that, she could "expect nothing less" from Jackson's fans.

Ticket sales

On September 27, the first day of ticket sales, all 3,000 tickets to the advanced screenings of the film had "sold out within two hours [on] early Sunday [September 27, 2009]." Fans had reportedly waited in line for days. CinemaBlend.com reported that over 160 showings had sold out. Reuters.com, stated that "hundreds of screenings in North America have already sold out, a month before the film's October 28 opening." According to MovieTickets.com, sales of tickets to the film have "accounted for more than 82 percent of all the tickets sold at the site today [Monday, September 28, 2009]." CinemaBlend.com described the sale of tickets on MovieTickets.com as being "fairly significant" - but remarked that "this is after all, just a concert documentary." It was reported that over 80 percent of tickets sold on Fandango.com were for this film. It was also reported that the film had "accounted for some 80% of all online ticketing in the U.S. within its first 24 hours of sales, dominating presales compared with such upcoming titles as Avatar and The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Sony, confirmed that over 30,000 tickets were sold in the first 24 hours that tickets went of sale. Both Fandango.com and Movietickets.com are reported that more than 1,600 screenings had already been sold out, via online pre-sales, by October 15. In United Kingdom, Vue Entertainment stated that they'd sold 64,000 tickets in the two-and-a-half weeks since ticket purchasing was made available, while Odeon Cinema stated that they'd had the sales of over 60,000 tickets by October 15.

E! Online.com said of the film, based on its current record ticket selling, out-selling and making more revenue then that: "Last year, Disney billed Miley Cyrus' Best of Both Worlds show as a one-week-only event. Then the film scored a $31 million opening weekend, and one week turned into 15. Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus became the top-grossing concert movie of all time. So far. While it's still early, This Is It is on track to top Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus. During its first three days of sales, Fandango said, Jackson's film outpaced Cyrus' first three days by a wide three-to-one margin." A spokesperson for Fandango.com, stated that, as of October 4, that: "The [film is the] best-selling concert film of all time. We were expecting a huge rush of ticket sales within the first few days. They are still going strong as of Thursday, fives days in. It shows no sign of abating." Nikki Finke stated that she felt the film "could shatter box-office records" and predicted that they will take in a total of $250 million in its first five days of release alone - which would make it the biggest opening of all time; taking that record from the current title-holder The Dark Knight, which earned $203 million in its first five days of release.

Record sales

Stuart Boreman, Vue Entertainment's film buying director, stated that the film's sales of over 30,000 tickets in the period of 1 day (24 hours) had broken 'box office records' of having the 'biggest ever one-day sales record' in the United Kingdom. Boreman stated: "I've never seen anything like it in the 25 years I have been film buying" and described the film's ticket sales as "a true phenomenon and sales show no sign of slowing down." It was reported that fans had "lined" up at the box office ticket counters throughout the city of Bangkok, Thailand, and that by the end of the first day "all tickets for the first showings across Bangkok were sold out." It was also reported that there were "sell-outs at theaters in France" and that "thousands of fans lined up at The Grand Rex in Paris and quickly bought out the film's first screening there [...] Record-setting sales also were recorded in Germany [...] hundreds of fans lined up outside one theater in Munich at midnight to await the opening of the box office." A German exhibitor said of crowds of people lining up for tickets to the film, that: "Something like this never happened before in Germany.""" Among other countries, "record sales" and "sell-outs" are also being reported in Holland, Sweden, Belgium and New Zealand." A week before the film was to be released in South Africa it was confirmed that the film had broke multiple pre-sale ticket records for a film release in South Africa. By October 27, Kinekor cinemas sold over 24,000 pre-sale tickets in South Africa, tripling the previous pre-sale record.

IMAX and release

Despite the fact that IMAX screenings are usually planned and booked months in advance by the film's movie distributors, Regal Entertainment Group, America's largest cinema chain, stated on September 30, that they would screen IMAX versions of the film at their cinemas. Regal stated that they are planning on making 25 of their IMAX locations available for the screening of the film when it opened to the public on October 28.

On August 11, it was widely announced, and later confirmed, that the film would be released to theatres in October 2009, though at the time no specific date was released or confirmed. When confirmed it was reported that the film was set be released worldwide on October 30, 2009. Later in August it was announced that the film's release date was rescheduled two days early for October 28. Sony stated that the film's release date was moved up by two days due to an 'overwhelming demand' for the film." China only allows 20 major foreign films to be released in the country every year on a revenue-sharing basis. Li Chow, manger of Sony Pictures Releasing International's stated that Sony will give the movie as wide a release as possible because of Jackson's popularity in China.

Controversies

In September 2009, AEG, stated that based on the positive enthusiasm by fans for waiting in lines for days for tickets to the film, that they'd hoped that it was a sign that the public hadn't felt that they were exploiting Jackson after his death.}}

Multiple members of Jackson's family had opposed the film from the start in August 2009. Jackson's older sister La Toya stated that she felt that Michael wouldn't have wanted the film to have been released because he wasn't giving his all into his performances. Jackson's mother, Katherine stated that she cannot watch the film, still under grief by Jackson's death, but hopes to watch it "another time". Despite members of the Jackson family opposing the film, Sony confirmed that they had given the entire family 60 premiere tickets to the film.

In October 2009, Jackson's father, Joe stated and had strongly insisted that the film "is mostly body doubles" and that "the media is going to tear this movie apart" because of it. However, according to the full credits of the film, backup dancer Misha Gabriel plays as a stunt double during some parts of the Smooth Criminal short film. However, this appears to be only during the part where Jackson jumps out of the glass window, as the film crew did not want Jackson to do the jump.

At the time of Jackson's death, and in the aftermath of it, multiple reports surfaced that AEG Live purposely tried to hide Jackson's health concerns during preparations for his would have been concerts. Concerns included Jackson's frail appearance due to lack of eating that had reportedly caused Jackson to be unable to perform from lack of strength and that AEG had used body doubles in rehearsals to stand in for Jackson. On October 23, days before the film's release, fans of Jackson launched a protest campaign against the film entitled "This Is NOT It". The campaign's focus was to convince people that Jackson's health was neglected by AEG, among others, and that AEG was partly responsible for Jackson's death and now the company is making a profit off Jackson's death. The group started a website and created their own 'trailer' for the movie to showcase their point-of-view on the documentary. Shortly after the protest became news, The Guardian conducted a poll on their website asking users "What do you think of Michael Jackson's posthumous film Is This It?", 51.4% agreed with one of the two options: "I agree with the fans who are boycotting it - it's shameless profiteering".

Reception

Box office

The film performed decently at the box office, going on to take first place in the weekend box office chart with $23,234,394 at 3,481 theaters—with, a per-theater average of $6,675 over the period of five days. but after the film's "disappointing" three-day gross, due to some fans, mostly in North America, boycotting the movie and issuing boycott propaganda in social networks and media, Sony lowered their expectations to 35 million, while analysts expected an estimated 30 million for the weekend. making $13,157,944, placing it at second at the box office, behind A Christmas Carol—which had grossed more than twice what This Is It made. The film completed its theatrical run in North America on December 3, 2009.

This Is It made its international debut in 110 territories on October 28–30, 2009. The film's revenue mainly consisted of international sales - 72.4%. These box office results is another proof that Michael Jackson has a huge fan base throughout the world. This Is It had a good performance at the Australian box office with total gross of $8,734,295 and $1,878,725 This Is It debuted at first place at the United Kingdom box office, with the revenue of £4,877,255. In the film's second weekend of release, with the gross revenue of the previous week being down 52%, with £1,355,855, it placed at second at the United Kingdom—having been outgrossed by A Christmas Carol, which, similar to its second week at the North American box office, had been knocked to second place by the film. The film's international revenue was significantly contributed to within Japan—with $58,4 million, followed by the United Kingdom—with $16 million. With 261 million worldwide, This Is It became the highest-grossing documentary of all-time. Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 87%, based on a sample of 30 reviews. Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 67 based on 32 reviews.

Roger Ebert, of Chicago Sun Times described the film as being an "extraordinary documentary", and stated that the film was "nothing at all like what" he was expecting to see. Kirt Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film for being "strange yet strangely beguiling" for capturing Jackson in "feverish grips of pure creativity" and stated that while the film presents that audience with a screen filled with everyone ranging from "performers, musicians, choreographers, crew members, craftsmen", she took notice that the film had primarily focused on Jackson. Honeycutt cited that the only thing that frustrated him more than knowing the "tragedy" that prevented the concert from happening was "not knowing what you're looking at" and commented that the film did not feel like a complete concert film because it had a grip on the audience, stating: "Where are Jackson and his conspirators at any given moment in the creative process? The film tries to be a concert film without having the actual footage. So when everything comes to a halt, audiences get thrown." {{Quote box | quote = "More important, however, is that we rarely witness Jackson giving 100%: He frequently comments that he is saving his voice and body for the actual performances. Jackson certainly can’t be faulted for this, but it's questionable whether he would really want his fans to see him thus. Don’t get me wrong: 60% of Michael Jackson is still a pretty good thing [...] [Jackson] the noted perfectionist, at work, correcting others’ dance moves without missing a beat himself and giving notes, sometimes revelatory and other times inscrutable, to his music director and others" | source = Marjorie Baumgarten of Austin Chronicle Peter Paras, of E! Online felt that watching Jackson and his performances in a positive aspect is the "genius and the sadness of the entire film".

Marjorie Baumgarten of Austin Chronicle referred to the film as being "neither a true concert film nor a strict behind-the-scenes documentary, This Is It is, like Jackson himself, a real hybrid" and felt that while the film's "made up of lots of grainy footage, which Ortega has edited together seamlessly" it will also "provide a fitting farewell". Joe Morgenstern, of The Wall Street Journal, felt the film was "expertly packaged—brilliantly packaged", and noted that the film "quite convincingly" had emphasized that Jackson had enough energy to perform, even with his "wraith-thin body". Ann Powers, of Los Angeles Times said that while the film offers only a few such "insights into Jackson's artistic process, though enough surface to make this a useful document, as well as a beautiful one" that the film is "a piece with Jackson's body of work: dazzling and strange, blurring the line between fantasy and reality".

{{Quote box | quote = "We see Jackson as a perfectionist, a generous boss, a tough taskmaster and a playful child. Off guard and probably unaware that it would ever be seen by the public, we find Jackson pushing his band and production team to the limit with demands to "let it sizzle" and "make the music simmer". Obsessive Jacko fans may be shocked by his Diva-ish behaviour as he complains about ear-pieces, but it's heartening to finally view the late singer as a rounded human with regular failings and imperfections. Similarly a scene featuring Jackson screaming "weeeee!" with childish glee as he moves around the stage on a giant cherry-picker, will surely bring a smile to even the most cynical viewer" | source = Alex Fletcher of Digital Spy David Edwards, of Daily Mirror, stated that while he felt that the film is a "success" he overall disliked the film, having felt that "as an exercise in wringing every last penny from Jackson's legacy" the film "most certainly isn't it" a tribute. Alex Fletcher, of Digital Spy described the film as having been an "essential viewing" and praised the film for showing "the real Michael Jackson" - which consisted of "difficult, odd, kind, obsessive and funny". He cited Jackson's best performances as Thriller and Billie Jean and the "worst material", Earth Song.

Home Media

This Is It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in North America on January 26, 2010. It sold over 1.5 million units in U.S., alone within its first week of release, setting a new record for the first week sales of a music DVD. The film was released in the same day in Japan, also breaking records, with $18 million in sales on the title's first day of release — $11.3 million in DVD and $6.7 million in Blu-ray - breaking Ponyo's record of $6.2 million. The movie was released on the same two formats in other countries on February 22, 2010 and the DVD and Blu-ray was released in Australia and New Zealand on March 3. Additionally, in the UK, a 4 GB USB storage stick was available, pre-loaded with a low-resolution version of the movie. Along with an Exclusive Samsung 500gb External HardDrive in gold with a Michael Jackson logo on, containing a copy of the movie. On August 29, 2010, the film premiered on British TV, broadcast on channel Sky1 at 2300 BST, and was also shown in HD on Sky1HD. In late 2010, This Is It was re-released in an "Enhanced 3D Blu-ray" in France and the UK, exclusively for buyers of a Sony 3D TV or 3D Blu-ray player. It included the 3D segments originally intended for the concert experience, including vignettes for "Thriller," "Smooth Criminal" and "Earth Song." As the songs are only partly in 3D, a signal will pop up on screen to indicate when viewers should put on or take off their 3D glasses. The bonus features include the complete film clips in 3D with converted video.

References

External links

Category:2009 films Category:American films Category:Columbia Pictures films Category:Concert films Category:English-language films Category:Films directed by Kenny Ortega Category:Michael Jackson Category:Michael Jackson video albums Category:Sony Pictures Entertainment