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Michael Jackson's 'This is It' rakes in $101 million in first 5 days; Sony extends showings
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Michael Jackson's "This is It" is definitely "it" at the box office this week. The film, which was originally slotted for only a two-week run, brought in $101 million worldwide in its first five days. As a result, according to an article on MSNBC, distributor Sony will extend the "farewell performance" documentary through Thanksgiving weekend.
The movie "raised its domestic total to $32.5 million..[and] pulled in $68.5 million overseas, including $10.4 million in Japan, $6.3 million in Germany, $5.8 million in France and $3.2 million in China...Sony plans to extend the run of 'This Is It' overseas on a country-by-country basis, with most territories probably getting one to three weeks of extra playing time."
The studio paid $60 million for the rights to Jackson's concert rehearsal footage. With the wild success of the film in just a few short days, they stand poised to do more than just recoup their initial investment. Although I'm curious as to whether the longer run will boost more sales, or whether the sales were so high as a result of the limited-engagement showings.
" 'They bet $60 million on this and got $101 million in just five days,' said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. 'It was a gamble and a bet that paid off.' "
Either way, everyone wins, as this is a first-class documentary that really presents MJ as he should be remembered--an incredibly talented songwriter, singer and dancer--and it's a fantastic tribute to a star whose sunshine certainly faded into the shadows entirely too soon.
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