Will the Michael Jackson movie risk pay off for Sony
October 22, 2009 1 Comment Article By : Alan
At the end of July following Michael Jackson’s stunning death from an anesthetic combined with other medications Sony Pictures blindly bid $60m for a some footage they titled “This is It” after only being allowed to preview a mere 90 seconds of it.
Tuesday night Sony will find out if their bid was worth it when the movie, which is a composition of over 100 hours of rehearsal time opens in LA at 6:00pm. It will also open around the same time in 53 different countries.
Production president of Sony, Doug Belgrad, said that Sony has a gut instinct that the film will be a cultural event, even thought the footage was not previewed in its entirety. It appears that Sony is relying heavily on Jackson fans and those interested to see his final days, to flock to the theatres to catch the film.
Even more interesting, and possibly risky, is the fact that the film carried a high price tag for Sony. and more tens of millions to market, and will only play in theatres for a total of two weeks, meaning not only will fans need to be interested, but they have to be quick.
Although the movie has not been seen by anyone, outside of the Sony studios, it is rumored to be about 80% of Jackson performing, making it a concert film which is a genre that has a bad track record at the box office.
Most industry experts believe that most of the film revenues will come from overseas where Jackson continued to hold a higher appeal than in America.
In fact, Jackson has such global appeal that China has decided to let it be shown, despite the fact only about twenty foreign films are allowed in the Chinese market each year.
Sony Pictures
Michael Jackson was like a father to me. I’ve been dealing with his death and it has been incredibly emotional for me. I can’t believe how he moved the world around the world. I wish his family the best. Thanks Michael for changing life as we know it!