The film begins with a short text introduction stating the purpose of the footage and its intent: "For the fans..." After short dialogues from various dancers, Ortega is heard talking through the original concert opening sequence involving a body suit made from screens which display fast clips and images with bright intensity from which Jackson emerges on stage. Immediately after this, Jackson begins "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" first solo, which pauses half-way through and a small snippet of Jackson singing "Speechless" a cappella is shown. Jackson is then joined by dancers and completes the first number. A short clip showing rehearsals of the "toaster" mechanism is shown before rehearsal footage of "Jam" is played. This plays directly into the green screen adaptation of soldiers dancers for "Bad" which are also used for "They Don't Care About Us" which is shown next. From here, the film shows Michael directing Ortega and his band for his solo rehearsal performance of "Human Nature" which he performs a cappella, then acoustic and finally with full band. Green screen rehearsals for the video vignette for "Smooth Criminal" come next (with scenes from his film Moonwalker as well as the film Gilda featuring Rita Hayworth as the title character singing "Put the Blame on Mame"), with dress rehearsals of the song following, including parts of the vignette intertwined with the dancing. Jackson is seen next directing his musical team for the cues in his song "The Way You Make Me Feel". Jackson then performs a rehearsal with dancers which he alters and changes as he goes. Jackson then rehearses a medley of The Jackson 5 songs: "I Want You Back", "The Love You Save", "I'll Be There" and "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)". After this, Jackson sings with Judith Hill, one of his backup singers, on his duet song "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" in which he sings at full strength, directing his partner as he goes. The filming for the "Thriller" vignette is then shown with Jackson and Ortega watching with 3D glasses. Jackson is then seen rehearsing "Thriller" with the vignette intertwined like that in "Smooth Criminal." Footage of the show's aerialists rehearsing to the instrumental of "Who Is It" is shown next.
During the dance sequence, puppets are suspended in the audience aisles while Jackson emerges from a robotic spider originally seen in the vignette. Jackson and Ortega rehearsing the cherry-picker is seen next, along with Jackson rehearsing "Beat It". Footage of Jackson and the band rehearsing "Black or White" is shown next, in which he instructs his band to skip the second verse and later allows guitarist Orianthi Panagaris to take center stage to finish with a high guitar riff. The video sequence for "Earth Song" is shown next, featuring a little girl who wanders through a forest, falls asleep, and wakes up to find the forest destroyed by man. Jackson then performs the song, with his voice being heard at the end telling of the dangers of global warming and the lack of reversible time left. He then performs a quick version of his song "Billie Jean". Michael is then seen talking to all crew members and wishing everyone the best for the London performances. At a sound check, Michael performs "Man in the Mirror" with strong backing vocals. The credits are shown next, with a montage of rehearsal clips and "This Is It" being played in the background. After the show, a live recording of "Heal The World" was played. Then, the audio of "Human Nature" was played, with a clip of Michael rehearsing it in early June (the 3D screen was not set up yet). Then, a clip of what could have been a Dome Project video of "Heal the World" was shown, in which the girl that appeared in the "Earth Song" video was shown holding the world and a signed message, by Michael, saying "I Love You."
On March 5, 2009 at the O2 Arena, Jackson announced that he was to perform 10 concerts as part of a comeback.[7][8] Jackson suggested likely post-show retirement by stating: "I just wanted to say that these will be my final show performances in London. When I say this is it, it really means this is it, this will be the final curtain call."[9] On March 11, two days before pre-sale began, an extra 40 dates were added to meet high demand, bringing the number of shows to 50 — five of these dates were reserved in their entirety for the public sale.[10] Jackson's 50 dates would make the concerts the longest residency at the arena. In May 2009, the show was originally set to have begun on July 8, 2009, and finished on March 6, 2010.[11]
On May 20. 2009, it was announced that the first concert would be pushed back by eight days to July 16, and three other July dates would be rescheduled for March 2010. AEG Live stated that the delay was necessary because more time was needed to prepare, mainly for dress rehearsals. The revised schedule called for 27 shows between July 16, and September 29, 2009, followed by a three-month break, and resuming in 2010, with 23 more shows between January 7, and March 6, 2010.[11] The This Is It concerts would have been Jackson's first major performances and series of concerts since the HIStory World Tour that began in 1996 and finished in 1997. In preparation for the concerts, Jackson had been collaborating with multiple well known and high-profile figures, such as Kenny Ortega, who would have served as his choreographer.[12] On June 29, 2009, only days after Jackson's death, AEG Live, the concert's promoter, offered ticket holders a choice; to either get refunded all the money spent on their ticket(s) or to keep the ticket(s) as a souvenir and memento by receiving the printed ticket that Jackson had designed himself.[13]
The film's director and choreographer Ortega stated that the rehearsal footage and concept of making a film to document the preparation of the concerts had come about as "an accident".[18][19] Ortega stated the film was pieced together from "private footage", shot by documentarians Sandrine Orabona and Tim Patterson of Jackson, and that before Jackson's death, was never intended to be released to the public, or even in general.[19] "The recordings were made so we could use them, then the tapes were destined for Michael [Jackson]'s private library. They have a real unguarded honesty to them."[19] Ortega stated that he had gotten the idea to use the rehearsal footage from Jackson's fans after his death: "At first I got so many messages from fans around the world asking to see the shows, asking to see the footage and eventually I realized the journey wasn't over and we had to do this", and Ortega also stated that the film was made only for the Jackson fans: "[The film] is for the fans and the film will show the development and intentions of the show, and the concert as it moved closer to London."[19]
On August 10, a Superior Court Judge officially approved the deal between Columbia Pictures (film distributor) and AEG Live (the concerts' promoter) for Columbia to be able to purchase and distribute rehearsal footage of Jackson and the rehearsal crew for the film.[20][21] The deal also included a merchandising agreement with Bravado International Group—the company is a division of Universal Music Group that is owned by Vivendi—so that they can distribute and sell "Jackson-themed products".[22] Columbia had reportedly paid $60 million for rights to the rehearsal footage in court documents that were filed.[23] The papers filed had also reportedly stated that Jackson's estate will get 90% of the profits and that AEG will get the remaining 10% from the film's revenue. In the agreement, Columbia and AEG Live both agreed in the deal that the final version of the film should be no longer than 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes), and that the film must attain a PG rating.[22] The contract also stated that the film is not allowed to show footage of Jackson that shows him in a negative way, stating that: "Footage that paints Jackson in a bad light will not be permitted" and "Under the terms of the proposed contract, the film will have to be screened for Jackson's estate and cannot include any footage that puts the superstar in a bad light."[23] The court papers stated that in order for the film to be released to the public the final version of the film must be screened to representatives of Jackson's Estate.[24]
On September 9, 2009, the film's official theatrical poster was released. On September 10, 2009, it was reported that MTV's Video Music Awards, which at the time had already announced that they would honor Jackson at the show would premiere the film's first, and only known, trailer.[25] Along with Janet Jackson's tribute to Michael, the trailer of the film premiered at the 2009 MTV Video Music Award which was watched by a total of 9 million people.[26] On September 13, 2009, it was reported that a "secret Michael Jackson [promotional music] single is being produced" to promote the film, at which the film would have, at the time, been released the following month.[27] It was reported that Jackson had recorded the song for release with his planned summer tour but after his death it was shelved until producers in Los Angeles remixed the vocals with an orchestral accompaniment.[28]
On September 23, 2009, it was reported that the film's new song "This Is It" would be released on October 12, 2009, sixteen days before the film's release.[28][29][30] On October 9, it was confirmed that the song would debut online the following Monday at midnight, receiving its world premiere on MichaelJackson.com.[31] On September 21, 2009, Sony released a 45-second clip of Jackson rehearsing his performance for "Human Nature" and also released stills from the video clip.[32] As part of a print marketing campaign for the film, Entertainment Weekly magazine did a cover story of the film for the magazine's October 16, 2009 issue, to coincide with the film's release for that same month.[33][34] Also as part of promotion for the film, Entertainment Weekly released 8 "never before seen" movie stills from the film.[35] On October 21, a clip of Jackson rehearsing "The Way You Make Me Feel" was released.[36] On October 21, a 2-minute featurette of the film was released.[37]
In September 2009, Sony launched "This-Is-It-Fans.com", which allowed fans to sign up for an 'alert' so that they can be able to take part in 'Michael Jackson's This Is It mosaic', in which fans could upload photos to the website, beginning September 21 and running to September 30, and the completed mosaic would be posted online on October 22, six days before the film's release.[38] On September 24, 2009, MTV announced, after the success the project proved with New Moon, that they will allow MTV registered users, to "watch and comment on any scene in the film's already released trailer". MTV described the project as "essentially [being] an in-video graphical overlay that allows users to comment on the video as it plays and review comments from other users.[39]
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