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http://tonight.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5211712&fSectionId=3882&fSetId=251
October 21, 2009
By Theresa Smith
With just a week to go till the premiere of the Michael Jackson film, This Is It, South African audiences have surprised distributors by breaking previous pre-sale ticket records for a film release in South Africa.
This Is It chronicles the months from April through June as Jackson rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place in London's O2 Arena this year.
With more than 18 000 tickets sold to date, and only a few tickets left over for the official 2am premiere on Wednesday October 28, this is double the previous record set by Quantum of Solace (7 500 presale tickets at local cinemas).
This weekend different cinemas around the country will set up a Wall of Remembrance, allowing fans to leave messages for the Jackson family. Ster Kinekor will collect the messages at the end of the film's two-week run and collate them on behalf of South Africa.
The 2am screening on Wednesday next week kicks off with a live satellite link to the Los Angeles premiere of This Is It and there's more new footage available online in case you haven't seen the trailer yet.
Following the mid-week opening the film will play for two weeks only around the world, probably before going on to DVD for yet another round of money spinning that will make Sony Pictures (who paid US$60-million for the footage) even more money.
Since the film has been made with the full co-operation of Jackson's estate, hopefully they will also see some of that money. Despite an extremely successful career in pop music for 40 years, Jackson left behind a string of debts estimated by some to be about US$50-million.
In a Reuters interview earlier this week director Kenny Ortega spoke about how Jackson appeared to have "gone into another gear" while rehearsing the concert and currently available footage certainly does show an energised King of Pop having fun.
Ortega, who was the musical director for the show, was adamant that Jackson was thinking of the O2 concerts as a final curtain and thinks the singer wanted to retire from performing and focus on other things.
Though only a select few journalists have seen about 12 minutes of the film, punters are already talking about this film has being the biggest film of 2009. It's certainly getting the biggest hype, that's for sure.
October 21, 2009
By Theresa Smith
With just a week to go till the premiere of the Michael Jackson film, This Is It, South African audiences have surprised distributors by breaking previous pre-sale ticket records for a film release in South Africa.
This Is It chronicles the months from April through June as Jackson rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place in London's O2 Arena this year.
With more than 18 000 tickets sold to date, and only a few tickets left over for the official 2am premiere on Wednesday October 28, this is double the previous record set by Quantum of Solace (7 500 presale tickets at local cinemas).
This weekend different cinemas around the country will set up a Wall of Remembrance, allowing fans to leave messages for the Jackson family. Ster Kinekor will collect the messages at the end of the film's two-week run and collate them on behalf of South Africa.
The 2am screening on Wednesday next week kicks off with a live satellite link to the Los Angeles premiere of This Is It and there's more new footage available online in case you haven't seen the trailer yet.
Following the mid-week opening the film will play for two weeks only around the world, probably before going on to DVD for yet another round of money spinning that will make Sony Pictures (who paid US$60-million for the footage) even more money.
Since the film has been made with the full co-operation of Jackson's estate, hopefully they will also see some of that money. Despite an extremely successful career in pop music for 40 years, Jackson left behind a string of debts estimated by some to be about US$50-million.
In a Reuters interview earlier this week director Kenny Ortega spoke about how Jackson appeared to have "gone into another gear" while rehearsing the concert and currently available footage certainly does show an energised King of Pop having fun.
Ortega, who was the musical director for the show, was adamant that Jackson was thinking of the O2 concerts as a final curtain and thinks the singer wanted to retire from performing and focus on other things.
Though only a select few journalists have seen about 12 minutes of the film, punters are already talking about this film has being the biggest film of 2009. It's certainly getting the biggest hype, that's for sure.