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Movie Review – Michael Jackson’s This Is It(2009)

February 16th, 2010 No comments

Michael Jackson’s This Is It (commonly called as This Is It) is a 2009 American documentary/concert feature film directed by Kenny Ortega and starring Michael Jackson, Kenny Ortega, Orianthi Panagaris. It documents Michael Jackson’s rehearsals and preparation for the series of concert of the same name programmed to start on July 13, 2009, but canceled due to his death eighteen days prior on June 25. The film is now the maximum grossing concert movie and documentary in the history of pictures.

The picture consists of Jackson rehearsing musical numbers and guiding his group, and extra behind the scenes footage including artiste auditions and costume design. Ortega devoted the film to Jackson’s three children. The footage was filmed at both the Staples Center arena and The Forum in Los Angeles, California. Despite originally being set for October 30, the movie’s release date was rescheduled for October 28, 2009 due to a strong demand by Jackson’s fans. The feature film was given a wide global release and a limited two-week theatrical run from October 28, to November 12, 2009. Tickets went on sale a month early on September 27, 2009, to gratify a high anticipated demand; to date, the movie has broken various records via tickets both pre-sale and sales worldwide.

Since the movie’s confirmation, AEG Live has faced disapproval; mostly consisting of lies that they had only made the film to make a gain. Many members of Jackson’s family had confirmed that they didn’t support the picture and some family members went as far as to try to stop the film agreement in August. The picture has also been encircled by several controversies, as well as allegations regarding the look of body doubles in place of Jackson; which Sony denied, and an fury from Jackson fans; with some going as far as to start a protest against the feature film. On August 10, 2009, a judge approved a deal between Jackson’s property, concert promoter AEG Live, and Sony Pictures. The contract allowed Sony to edit the hundreds of hours of preparation footage needed to create the picture. Sony subsequently paid $60 million for the feature film rights.

The preview premiered during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards on September 13, 2009, along with the concurrent launching of the feature film’s official website. The film was released to mainly positive reviews from both critics and Jackson fans; the picture’s portrayal of Jackson and his performances were normally praised, while disapproval mainly consisted of both critics and fans having felt that the feature film was made just to gain off Jackson’s death and that Jackson wouldn’t have wanted the movie released because he was a “perfectionist”. In the feature film’s opening weekend it grossed over $23 million – in the United States alone – making the picture number one at the box office and making it the fifth maximum-grossing Halloween debut. The picture’s worldwide revenue gross was in total $252.4 million during its theatrical run making it the maximum grossing documentary or concert film of all time.

It was released on October 28, 2009. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 80% of 162 critics have given the picture a positive review, with a rating average of 7.1 out of 10. In the second week, it was out grossed by A Christmas Carol.

Mitsha