Up until now, Screen Rant has had no real reason to report on the death of worldwide mega-superstar Michael Jackson. His passing on June 25th, 2009, while extremely tragic and quite sad, just didn’t hold a place in the world of movie news. He was after all, the “King of Pop”, not the “King of the Screen”. His music videos during the later 80′s and early 90′s could have very well of been short films, but as he aged and became the focus of bad publicity, those videos became a thing of the past.
Things have changed in the past couple of days that makes this news movie worthy; Jackson’s estate and concert promoter AEG Live have forged a deal with Sony to release a behind-the-scenes style film this fall. Sony is paying $60 million dollars to release This Is It, which is titled after Michael Jackson’s last world tour that he never finished. The film will use some of the hundreds of hours of footage shot during rehearsals in the month of June at both the Staples Center in L.A and the Forum in Inglewood. Think VH1 Behind the Music only longer.
Kenny Ortega (High School Musical) is directing the feature which will be in HDe and in some parts 3-D. I’m not sure why a rehearsal footage movie warrants a 3-D effect but since 3-D is the new red, it doesn’t surprise me in the least to hear that.
If you are a wondering whether the movie will address any of Jackson’s shortcomings, the contract requires the movie to be screened for Jackson’s estate before release. The movie is not allowed to show the “King of Pop” in a manner that would be considered negative. So just like a true Hollywood film, the movie will be a fantasy. One thing I do not understand is why a judge had to sign off on the movie deal? Don’t lawyers usually just work contract issues out amongst themselves?
Jackson’s attorney, John Branca and music executive John McClain (no, not Bruce Willis) – both special administers for Jackson’s estate – CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment Michael Lynton and several other Sony big shots were there to soak up the media spotlight by announcing the judge’s decision. Branca had this sound bite to give:
“Our goal is to work with partners who treat Michael’s legacy with dignity and respect, while allowing us to substantially build the value of his estate for the benefit of Mrs. Katherine Jackson, Michael’s three children and the charitable causes that meant so much to him during his life.”
The attorney’s fee on $60 million dollars probably never entered his mind. (Eye Roll)
Not to be out done in the “Look what I can say” category, Lynton added this:
“People who have seen this footage are astounded by the amazing quality of Michael Jackson’s performance. This historic recording of the last time he sang and danced on stage shows the legendary artist in an incredibly powerful way, with crystal clear images and sound. We understand the importance of producing a film that pays tribute to Michael as an artist, and are honored to work with the estate of Michael Jackson to give audiences the gift of his final performances.”
In other words, “I’m stoked about how much cash we are going to make off this worldwide.” Jackson had the leeches hanging on to him in life and the vultures swarming down in death. It’s quite sad, really.
I found my two favorite Michael Jackson clips from when I was a kid and have posted them below. The first is Disney’s Epcot 3-D short film Captain EO. Living in Florida, I remember seeing this the summer it opened and thinking “Wow! This is the coolest thing ever!” Next is the trailer for Jackson’s only full length feature film, Moonwalker. Hope you enjoy them.
Captain EO
Moonwalker
.
Are you going to break out the multi-zipper jacket, surgical mask and glitter glove to watch This Is It or would you rather go watch the Jonas Brothers in 3-D?
This Is It moonwalks its way into theaters October 30, 2009.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
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WTF, I didnt even read this article and dont really care to, but its amazing that someone is going to benefit from footage of MJ concert rehearsal. What has this world come to when a child molester dies, and now everyone love him. Stupid Stupid Stupid. Ive lost all hope for Man Kind….
Every time I walk into a store and they have a huge MJ display I get disgusted on them profiting from his death. This is probably one of the worst exploits I have seen. I will never see this.
“Ive lost all hope for Man Kind…”
I have to agree. I’m gotten quite sick of attacking the guy on that, but its really messed up when we give this pervert this much attention.
I feel the same way guys but I didn’t feel a piece about his conert movie was the appropiate place for me to address my personal feelings on him. The comments section however…, I don’t think he deserves a concert movie post-mortem. I feel sad for his mother though for 1. Losing a child, 2.For being the center of attention she has never really tried to be, and 3.Get used by greedy lawyers and media CEO’s.
If u don’t have anything positive to say about the King of Pop, don’t say anything at all. Let him rest in peace. Who are you to judge another human being?
Um, I’m the person that has never been accussed of molesting or doing anything inappropiate with a child, that’s who I am. His body can rest in peace, his legacy however is tainted by all of the things he did outside of the music world. Next time why not try leaving a name. YOu feel bad for Britnay Spears as well?
@forthecommentsaboveme,
I judge him because I’m a person who doesnt have a hidden closet in my room, I never talked about having little children share my bed with me, and I never paid a family 8 million dollars to keep their mouth shut in court. If you died tomorrow nobody would care, so why make a big deal out of Wacko Jacko.
@ Paul Young,
Thank You!!! I agree totally, Rev. Al Sharpton said that MJ was not strange, but what he went through was strange. Bull Crap.
MJ had an interview along time ago and he said that he wasn’t interested in Women in the sexual way, when MJ went into saying that he wasn’t interested in Gay Men, so what else does that leave, Animals and Children. I haven’t heard of any stories of MJ screwing a horse and giving him diseases much like the dumb hick state that I live in, but I have heard him accused of Child Molestation. So I wonder why he could possibly be accussed of that.
michael jackson was nothing more then a child molester
@MJfan – Thanks for the name calling. Al we did is point out the accusations against him backed up with facts. You on the other hand decide to put on rose colored glasses and make excuses for his behavior. Plus you through in a sexual slur to show your immaturity. Nice job bud! Unless you meant homosapiens and are referring to the human species in general then that’s ok.
Wow… Somewhat harsh. I prefer to reserve judgement till theres actual proof of him doing it… Not just some kid that said so or suspicion of it. I love mj and all but i’ve been making fun of him since way before the accusations… That news just gave me more ammo…lol. Either i will have my butt in seat for that movie… I loved how he performed and i will surely examine this to imitate some moves for my own liking. Someone stole my glove when i performed my own medley of mj, james brown and queen in high school… So i might have to get another one.
Oh and doesnt “graceland” Or wherever he was from benefit off of elvis on a daily basis and yet i don’t hear complaints about that…
@Jago – If you notice I did not include judgement anywhere in this article. To the contrary, the article actually praises him for his contributions to the music and video world. The judgements came later when peoeple began expressing personal opinion.
@paul
sorry i forgot to write that i didn’t mean that harsh part at you but at that one person that said he was just a child molestor… So again sorry and btw i did like the article.
Can’t wait…Definately going and I hope his children do receive all the money made from it.
@Jago – Oh ok no biggie.
As a florida child myself, Disney World/Epcot was a regular thing. But I totally forgot about the Captain EO 3-D show!! But after watching that clip, it brought straight flashbacks of my childhood back!! It was the weirdest but the coolest thing as as kid! Thank you for that!!
Maybe you all, like MJ, did not sexually abuse children, but that does not excuse the rest of your imperfection’s throughout your life. No one has the right to judge anyone else! And, unless you and your life are absolutely perfect and you are TOTALLY without sin….keep the traps shut!
I can hardly wait for his movie to come out. I will DEFINITELY be going to see it!
Aaaaaaand back on point…
The 3D element would be the Thriller recreation filmed in 3D a few weeks before Michael’s death, in case anyone’s interested.
As for all the other stuff, I don’t know the facts with any more certainty than you do. All I do know is the fact the guy was found innocent by a jury on the child molestation charges and I’d hope people are educated enough about how tabloid media works to trust a drawn-out court case over hearsay and personal assumptions. The only other fact we can know for sure is that there’s not one single precedent for the life Michael Jackson led. You try growing up in an isolating religion, becoming world famous before you’ve grown pubes and then having to cope with strange disorders like vitiligo, lupus, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, body dysmorphia and so-called “Peter Pan Syndrome”* and see if you aren’t just a little screwed up psychologically.
Things aren’t always as simple as you’d like to think they are.
(* Before disputing this stuff, try a little research. You may actually find it explains a lot. Then again, that’s not half as much fun, now, is it?)
1. I’m astonished a film blog thinks that Michael Jackson’s short films/videos “became a thing of the past,” and therefore implied as irrelevant as he “aged and became the focus of bad publicity.” I suppose Chaplin’s & Polanski’s films (although long form) became irrelevant too. I doubt Scorcese, Spike Lee, David Fincher, John Singleton, John Landis, Herb Ritts, Mark Romanek, Bob Guaraldi & the other directors would agree that their short films had an expiration date.
2. I’m an incest survivor. I don’t have a stake in defending pedophiles. Stephen King said, “It’s worth noting that he was never convicted of anything in criminal court. In the court of public opinion, however, he was found guilty of Weirdness in the First Degree.”
3. Michael Jackson didn’t fit the pattern of a pedophile. I don’t believe he molested those boys, rather he was targeted for extortion. Besides being an incest survivor, having been in therapy on and off for 35 years (I’m 56 and it’s a long, slow process of healing and recovery in stages), I’ve known many other incest and child sexual abuse survivors of both sexes. I’ve studied the subject in-depth. Even *IF* he did, why didn’t others come forward? Pedophiles escalate their behavior and they prey on hundreds of victims. Case in point – Roman Catholic priests (not saying all/majority are pedophiles).
4. 90% of the film’s profits go to the trust (shared by the kids/charities/Katherine Jackson), 10% to Sony.
5. The 3D inserts were already filmed for the concerts as backdrops. Kenny Ortega was director of this residency, and he directed one of Jackson’s tours (forget which one, I think the one the year of the LA Summer Olympics).
6. I understand there will be some career retrospective parts, maybe with testimonials from friends & colleagues.
7. I’m sure there’ll be a range of documentaries or based-on/inspired-by films ranging from mudslinging to muckraking to objectively critical to hagiographies still to come through the years. “This Is It” centers on the making of the comeback that never was.
Good point re. the profits, Ligaya. I’d meant to mention that side of the story…
As much as it might seem like a “cash-in”, people have to remember that this is a man who was in deep financial trouble (allegedly) and this film could well bring his estate back in the clear. For the sake of his kids, I think that’s completely acceptable.
Besides that point, this is also a man who barely had a life outside of being famous… so it’s probably safe to assume he would want his fans to see the footage. After all, wouldn’t we all want our legacy to live on if we had one… rather than die with us because of some kneejerk assumption about people’s motives?
There’s a fine line, for sure… but closing his career off in a vault would be the ultimate injustice, wouldn’t it?
@lil fthr – Actually, I DO have the right to judge him. That’s why our goverenment puts juries of our peers together. Of course I’m not blameless in my life, stole gum, speeding, lied, lust, laundry list of sins my friend but again, I HAVE NOT EVER BEEN EXCUSED OF INAPPROPIATE BEHAVIOR WITH CHILDREN. My children sleep with me in my bed sometimes, that’s ok because I’m their parent. He had children that were not his sleeping in bed with him, that is NOT ok. And please please please try to come at me again using a weak mildly religious argument.
@ligaya – I’m truly sorry for the emtional, physical and mental pain you have been put through. I hope you have received the help you need to cope and become a stronger person.
Yes Mj’s videos became a thing of the past. Like Chaplin, he was no longer popular to mainstream audiences. His music was played on 80′s and 90′s stations but never top 40. It wasn’t until his death that people started getting nostalgic for his music and it is that memory that Sony hopes to cash in it. It’s no different IMO than what studios did with Transformes and GI Joe.
Music bends and shapes with society and MJ stopped being on the cutting edge of that years ago. When was the last time you heard a new song from him on the radio? Remeber when ther would be a special day that VH1 and MTV would dedicate to him whenever he would release a new video? That doesn’t happen anymore.
Of course he is tried in the court of public opinion, he was in the public eye. OJ was never criminally convicted of anything either but that didn’t erase all of the outstanding work he did on the field before the murders. MJ will be remembered for 3 things, fantastic music, being odd, and inappropiate behavior with/around children. You can try to “Wish” it away if you want but it will not work.
I have seen no proof of the 90/10 split you refer to. Please provide a link backing up your claim. I find it very hard to believe that any mega movie studio, especially Sony, would agree to a horrible deal like that.
I do not believe you about shooting the 3-D sequences for the concert. That would require each person in the audience to wear those stupid glasses the entire time to enjoy it. have you ever looked at a non-3D image with them on? Gives you headaches because your eyes are expecting a certain type of light to becoming through the lenses and it’s not there. Also, your statement about 3D is the 1st I’ve heard about it, and if it was truly being used in his concerts it would have been pushed in the press long before now. Again, please provide a link.
Seriously as an incest survior your challenge to whether he molest young boys was that no other victims came forward? That’s it? How many rape, incest, abuse victims want to come forward after it happens? Men being raped by other men, kids molested and women being raped are three horrible horrible things but it is very hard to get the victims involved to step forward against their attacker. They are embarrassed, ashamed and scared when they have no need to be. To come forward, means to relive the experience and that is somethign they do not want to do. The evidence against him was damming, and your excuse to protect him is weak at best.
@Kane – I’m still curious on how they planned on showing a 3D movie during a rock concert? Any info you could link would be greatly appreciated.
All those things you listed are reasons not excuses. He wasn’t the only person in the world to suffer from those conditions you mentioned. Would people be so quick to defend him if he wasn’t a mega super pop star? If the guy down the street living in a trailer and unkempt started playing with your children would run down and get them or would you wait and see what happens before passing judgement? Not sure what you would do but I would grab my kids and probably call the police. Why would my reaction be any different just because that guy is rich pop star? Everyone is human and is capable of vile tendencies. Most of us are able to control those tendencies or even erradicate them all together. Just becasue someone is famous doesn’t make them a saint. It just makes them rich.
“didn’t others come forward?”
One word….FEAR. They would be going up agianst “The King of Pop”, a person pretty much everyone admires(well used to anyway). Nobody would believe that person simply b/c they love Jackson and are a fan.
Seems odd to me that they would make a movie out of his last rehearsals but that’s just me; I will probably see it anyway. I’m sure someone is working on a real biographical movie about him.
I have a wide assortment of albums, ranging from Handel to Barry Manilow to Eminem (clean of course). But most of my albums are MJ. The man revolutionized music and as a black man, I respected him for it. But you can’t just ignore the alleged bad things in his life: The plastic surgery to seemingly turn him white, the security camera outside his bedroom, the animals, the children. I have seen black people with vitilago and they don’t try to turn themselves white, they try to make the light parts dark. I have to admit, I’ve made fun of him and I’ve crucified him because of the reports, but I also recognize that the man had great talent. Many have focused on the negative and forgotten about the positive.
What do all of you remember about the story of King David or the prophet Moses? These were great men who didn’t incredible things; David was even said by God as being a man after His own heart. But these men also committed murder, and David even was an adulterer.
Paul mentioned OJ; the public still believes the man is a murderer even though he was found not guilty in a court of law. Will MJ’s legacy ever survive all the innuendo? Only history will tell.
I meant that Dacid and Moses were men who did incredible things.
“the public still believes the man is a murderer even though he was found not guilty in a court of law”
That means nothing these days. There have been many times a person has been found innocent yet they were truly guilty, and when a person was found guilty yet was truly innocent. Being found “innocent” or “guilty” in court means nothing especially when we live in a world with a CORRUPT judicial system.
I’ll answer parts of your posts as I find the links – in between my work/real life. I’ll talk about the most important part, child molestation, last.
“The deal was negotiated by two men who are administering Jackson’s estate, longtime attorney John McClain and music executive and Jackson family friend John McClain. It calls for Jackson’s company to receive 90 percent of the film’s profits, with the remainder going to AEG Live.” [Previous news articles reported the will divided the trust as 40% the children, 40% Katherine Jackson, 20% charities. – google it] “Court filings detail Jackson film,” ANTHONY McCARTNEY (AP) – Aug 4, 2009, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h761FDvBOwcXie9NR_ppzHuNvqfwD99SFKVO1
“Under terms of a 2002 will Jackson signed, his mother and three children receive a combined 80% of his assets, with the remainder going to several unnamed children’s charities. In the deal with Columbia — a division of entertainment giant Sony Corp., which distributes Jackson’s music as an adult solo performer — Jackson’s estate would receive 90% of any movie profit and the rest would go to AEG.” “Deals detail Michael Jackson, the brand,” http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-jackson6-2009aug06,0,3142281.story
OK, it’s time to drop the whole OT thing being discussed here. Bring it back to the movie itself or I’ll be shutting down comments on this thread.
Vic