Crowd Went Wild At Michael Jackson's This Is It Premiere
Posted on Oct 28, 2009 @ 12:00AM - 6 comments
This Is It director Kenny Ortega introduced the movie at the Nokia Theater in Downtown Los Angeles Tuesday evening and said that Michael Jackson was "all about love."
PHOTOS: Stars Arrive At World Premiere
The film started at 6:15 pm and opened with Michael's dancers explaining how much MJ meant to them. The crowd went wild with shouts of Michael Jackson we love you!
Lighter-Skinned Sammy Sosa "Not Trying To Be Michael Jackson," Associate Says
Posted on Nov 09, 2009 @ 07:12AM - 22 comments
Ex-baseball slugger Sammy Sosa is "not trying to be Michael Jackson," a Chicago Cubs employee who talks to the outfielder frequently said after pictures of a dramatically lighter-complected Sosa at an after-party following Thursday's Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas, surfaced online.
PHOTOS: Sammy Sosa’s Dramatic Transformation
Michael Jackson & Bruno: Scene Deleted From Movie Is Edited Back In
Posted on Nov 06, 2009 @ 07:48PM - 1 comment
Michael Jackson died just days before the release of the Sacha Baron Cohen comedy, Bruno, and out of deference to his passing, a scene with LaToya Jackson talking about her brother was cut at the last minute. It's back.
VIDEO: Latoya and 'Bruno' Talk About Michael Jackson
We don't know if if is because the movie bombed and it's a good promotional stunt...but....the scene has been put back in for the upcoming DVD and Blu-Ray releases.
Joe Jackson Requests Allowance From Jackson Estate
Posted on Nov 06, 2009 @ 04:20PM - 35 comments
Joe Jackson is jumping on the Michael Jackson money bandwagon, becoming the latest in a line of many to file a claim against his late son’s estate.
Joe Jackson Files Documents
Joe filed papers Friday with the LA County Superior court asking the judge to grant him a monthly allowance.
PHOTOS: Stars Arrive At Michael Jackson Premiere
In the documents Michael Jackson’s former manager, Leonard Rowe, claims Michael used to grant his mother Katherine $60,000 per month to live on and that she was instructed to give Joe half of that.
PHOTOS: Michael Jackson’s Son Is A karate Kid
Joe says that his monthly expenses total $15, 425, including $2,500 dining expenses, $2,000 air travel, $3,000 hotel bills, $1,000 groceries, $1,200 rent and $50 charitable contributions.
PHOTOS: Michael Jackson’s Kids Enjoy A Day Out
Joe claims the estate has netted more than $100 million in the first seven weeks following his son’s death and that it is”well able to afford a family allowance for Joe Jackson”.
Howard Weitzman, one of the attorneys for John Branca and John McClain the Special Administrators for Michael Jackson's Estate in response to Joe Jackson's request for an allowance stated, "The Special Administrators have been made aware that Joe Jackson filed papers asking to be paid a family allowance from the Estate. It was quite surprising to learn of the request. Mr. Jackson's petition will be considered as are all requests for money from Michael's Estate."
PHOTOS: Michael Jackson's Son Is A Karate Kid
Posted on Nov 03, 2009 @ 06:32PM - 3 comments
On Monday, Michael Jackson's eldest son Prince Michael lead the charge as he and his group of cousins and siblings left their weekly karate class.
PHOTOS: More Karate Photos
Looking appropriately disheveled after the workout, the children headed back home in the care of their nanny. Jackson's daughter Paris and youngest son Blanket were also on hand.
PHOTOS: Michael Jackson's Kids Enjoy A Day Out
The children have clearly recovered from the minor accident they were involved in a couple of weeks back when a photographer rear-ended their car as they headed to the Dawn Barnes Karate Center. Thankfully, there were no injuries and both cars escaped largely undamaged.
Michael Jackson’s This Is It's Run Extended After $101 Million Opening
Posted on Nov 02, 2009 @ 05:00AM - 1 comment
The film documenting Michael Jackson's final days, This Is It, had its original two-week engagement extended in North America until Thanksgiving -- an extra two weeks -- after the documentary moonwalked to a stellar $101 million worldwide at the box office in its first five days.
PHOTOS: Stars Arrive At This Is It World Premiere
This Is It was a hit wherever it played, as it took in $32.5 million in the U.S., and $68 million abroad.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Michael Jackson's This Is It Is Thrilling Audiences
Posted on Nov 01, 2009 @ 01:18PM - Add a comment
Michael Jackson can still sell tickets. The bio-concert film, Michael Jackson's This Is It, won the box office wars with an estimated $21.3 million in ticket sales. The figure is less than the producers had hoped for but they are more than making up for soft North American business with boffo numbers from the rest of the world, especially Japan.
This Is It Had A Special Midnight Opening
This Is It -- A Thriller At The Box Office
Posted on Oct 29, 2009 @ 06:00AM - 2 comments
The Michael Jackson concert film This Is It took in an impressive $2.2 million dollars in late-night screenings in North America on Tuesday following its Los Angeles premiere.
The film opened in wider release on Wednesday, and ticket sales are said to be surpassing Tuesday night's sales.
The 112-minute film -- now playing in 75 countries for a limited two-weel run -- showcases the King Of Pop's final set of rehearsals at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles this past spring, as he was preparing for this summer's planned residency at London's O2 Arena.
Debbie Rowe Watches Michael Jackson’s This Is It
Posted on Oct 28, 2009 @ 07:50PM - 7 comments
Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson’s ex wife and mother to two of his three children, took in an afternoon showing of Michael’s new movie This Is It, Wednesday in Calabasas, CA.
VIDEO: Watch Trailer For This Is It
Rowe was a no show Tuesday evening at the Los Angeles world premier of the movie, which is a montage of footage shot during the late singer’s preparations for his London tour.
PHOTOS: Stars Arrive At This Is It World Premiere
Rowe was spotted leaving the movie theater with Marc Schaffel, a former Michael Jackson advisor.
Michael Jackson Movie Screening Tickets Sell Out Fast
The crowd went wild at Tuesday night’s premiere, and feedback has been positive regarding the movie, with box office records expecting to be set. The official opening is October 30th.
This Is It Director on Michael Jackson: “I Wasn’t His Caregiver”
Posted on Oct 28, 2009 @ 05:23PM - 4 comments
Kenny Ortega, the director of Michael Jackson’s new film This Is It, rejects the idea that the star was too weak for the demands of tour rehearsals prior to his death.
PHOTOS: Stars Arrive At This Is It Premiere
“Really? ... you really thought he looked frail? You’d use that word?,” Ortega asked RadarOnline.com, in response to a query regarding Jackson’s appearance in the movie.
“I’ll tell you when he looked frail,” Ortega said Wednesday. “When the media was beating him up. He looked frail when he was being persecuted without having been tried. He looked frail during that time in his life. He was nourished, invigorated [during rehearsals]. He was turned on, he was so excited about this project, this was his love project. The only other thing that meant more to him were his children, honest to God.”
Crowd Went Wild At This Is It Premiere
Regarding Jackson’s physical health during This Is It preparation, Ortega also discussed his view of his role as director. “Did I worry about him?,” he asked. “All the time. I’m a director. To get to the end of your goal you have to make sure that everybody’s in one piece, so I wouldn’t want him to fall off the stage, and I also encouraged him to take care of himself. ‘Please eat. Please sleep. Please drink. Stay hydrated.’ You even hear me [in the movie] at one point on the stage going, ‘Get some water.’ We were always like that.
“But at the same time, Michael’s 50 years old. A father for 12 years. A man who made the choice to do this in his life, believed that this was the right time to do it. I wasn’t his caregiver.”
Michael Jackson Movie Screenings Sell Out Fast
Michael Bearden, the tour’s music supervisor, also reframed media reports about Jackson’s sleep deprivation in the weeks before his death.
“Everybody takes it [sleeping problems] as something negative,” he told press. “When you’re creating, and trying to make this the biggest, best thing for ... the fans ... it’s difficult for anybody to sleep. I couldn’t sleep, we couldn’t turn if off.”
VIDEO: This Is It Trailer
Chuckling at a suggestion that This Is It rehearsals were “nine to five,” Bearden explained that prep days lasting 20 hours weren’t unusual, and that he and choreographer Travis Payne would often get feedback from Jackson at all hours of the night.
“But it was a good thing,” Bearden said, “because we were just so excited about what we were creating, and what the world was going to see and what MJ was capable of doing, still, at age 50. It was difficult to sleep because it was so exciting. It’s hard to turn that off, that adrenaline. ... Our muses often came at night ... so, insomnia: people have been talking about that. ... But it wasn’t really that. It was more that we were up, juices were flowing, we were creative.”
“This is It” Soundtrack : Buy It Or Leave It?
Posted on Oct 28, 2009 @ 03:56PM - Add a comment
With all the excitement surrounding the two-week run of This Is It in theaters, it only seems fitting that fans will want to pick up the two-disc soundtrack as a keepsake of Michael Jackson’s final encore.
The new release is packed with the original album and single versions of many of his biggest hits from different stages of his career—including Shake Your Body (Down To the Ground), Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, Billie Jean, Beat It, Thriller, Human Nature, Man In the Mirror, Black and White, The Way You Make Me Feel—which, make no mistake, are incredible to hear back to back, reminding you why Michael became anointed the King Of Pop.
However, the posthumous release offers very little in the way of new material. There are two versions of the memorable title track Is This It, one with back up vocals by his siblings and the other an orchestral version, and the beautiful spoken word poem Planet Earth, where Michael delivers enchanting lines like, “Tender with breezes caressing and whole / Alive with music haunting my soul.”
