Sony Pictures via Associated Press

A movie poster promotes Michael Jackson's "This is It."

Comments

There are no comments yet. Click here to start the conversation!

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Printer friendly

More Movie News

• Forest Whitaker takes on comedy, action with 'Wedding,' 'Repo Men'
• Review: 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' is gross, juvenile and just right for its audience
• A sneak peek at the 'New Moon’ DVD extras

Share and Enjoy

'This Is It' surges from foreign fans

HOLLYWOOD - The last time one of Michael Jackson's tours played the continental United States was 1988. So perhaps it's no surprise that "This Is It," Sony Pictures' film made from rehearsal footage for Jackson's planned London concert series, did more than twice as much business internationally in its first five days as it did domestically.

"This Is It" opened to a studio-estimated $68.5 million in 108 foreign territories from Wednesday through Sunday and $32.5 million in the U.S. and Canada, where it started late Tuesday.

Its biggest international market was Japan, where "This Is It" sold $10.4 million worth of tickets, the third-biggest opening of the year in that country behind a Japanese film and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

Jackson became more popular in many foreign countries than the U.S. as he continued to tour there in the 1990s and controversy surrounding his personal life had less of an effect.

The lopsided debut for "This Is It" puts it in a small group of films this year to sell more than twice as many tickets overseas as at home.

All told, "This Is It" came in at the low end of expectations domestically but performed solidly overseas, bringing in a total of $101 million worldwide. More important, for Sony, however, the movie kept humming after its so-so $20.1 million debut Wednesday.

It's typical for concert movies to fall rapidly after an initial burst of enthusiasm from fans when they open. But "This Is It" held on well over the weekend, declining less than 10 percent from Friday to Saturday despite Halloween. That gave Sony hope that the well-reviewed film will fade slowly in the coming weeks.

"I don't think it's going to be like a traditional concert movie that burns itself out very quickly," said Rory Bruer, Sony's president of distribution.

Motivated in part by the studio's failure to reach an agreement with theaters owners to release a DVD version before Christmas, "This Is It" will have a chance to prove Bruer's conviction. Sony announced Sunday that it is extending the run of "This Is It" beyond the previously planned two weeks. In the U.S., it will stay in theaters until Thanksgiving.

The audience for "This Is It" was somewhat older than expected, with 62 percent of moviegoers over 25. That's good news for Sony, as adults are more likely to turn out after a movie's opening weekend than teenagers.

"This Is It" almost certainly will gross more than $200 million worldwide, which should make the film at least modestly profitable for the studio and generate substantial returns for Jackson's estate and AEG Live, which was producing the "This Is It" concert.

After theaters owners take their approximately 50 percent cut of ticket sales, Sony will recoup the $60 million it spent on rights to the movie, as well as marketing costs believed to be in the low- to mid-tens of millions. It will also keep a so-called "distribution fee" that one person close to the deal said ranges between 13 percent and 20 percent of revenue, depending on its ultimate performance. All other proceeds goes to the Jackson estate and AEG Live.

The same split applies to home entertainment. The movie will come out on DVD in late January or early February.

"This Is It" was the only new movie to open nationwide, as most studios wanted to avoid competing with trick-or-treating and Halloween parties. Sony was forced to choose the unpopular date for "This Is It" because it wanted to rush the film out this season and every other weekend was crowded with major new releases.