This is It: New Michael Jackson Film Worth the Hype?

This Is It, the new film about Michael Jackson, opened in theatres on October 28, 2009. This Is It features behind the scenes footage of Michael Jackson rehearsing for what was to be his final concert tour. In the United States and places like London, This Is It is poised to break box office records. This Is It is certainly a highly anticipated film for Michael Jackson fans, but the intense media coverage has me wondering: is This Is It a monumental film about Michael Jackson?

Directed by Kenny Ortega, This Is It was put together from hundreds of hours of rehearsal footage of Michael Jackson preparing for his This Is It tour, which Michael Jackson claimed would be the final concert appearances of his career. The publicity for This Is It heralds this movie as a must see display of Michael Jackson's talent and a rare behind the scenes look at Jackson himself.

The question on everyone's lips is: can the new Michael Jackson tribute film This Is It possibly live up to all the hype surrounding it? According to the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, reviews of Michael Jackson's This Is It have been positive. In a series of over-the-top Twitter updates, Michael Jackson's longtime and loyal friend actress Elizabeth Taylor praises This Is It as "The single most brilliant piece of filmmaking I have ever seen."

In my opinion, the hype surrounding This Is It isn't important, what we should be focusing on is the appalling way people are benefiting from Michael Jackson's untimely demise. Were the motives for creating This Is It truly altruistic, and was this film created as a gift for Michael Jackson's grieving fans? Or did the film's creators intend to generate profits from the sudden death of the frail and troubled Jackson?

Jackson's estate is rumored to receive 90 per cent of the profits from Michael Jackson's This Is It movie. With the sale of the This Is It concert footage of Jackson, AEG Live can recoup some debt from the cancelled Michael Jackson tour. It's possible that Michael Jackson could very well be more lucrative to those around him as a dead man, than he was alive. I was never a huge Jackson fan, but watching people cash in on Michael Jackson's death feels hard to take sometimes.

After the limited theatrical run of This Is It, there are plans to release this Michael Jackson film on DVD, just in time for holiday shopping. Then there's the Michael Jackson's This Is It album, and there are also rumored plans to release another movie with more footage of Jackson. Meanwhile, the media continues to milk the aftermath of Jackson's death for all it's worth. Channels like TV Guide Network fill their airwaves daily with rather sensational biographies of the life and times of Michael Jackson, his career and death.

As long as there's money to be made, we'll continue to see films like This Is It, the Michael Jackson concert film. Whether or not This Is It is indeed a rare glimpse into Michael Jackson's life or a supreme showcase for his talents, the bottom line is that just like the marketing of deceased celebrities like Elvis, This Is It is designed to rake in cash for its creators. In my opinion, the greatness of the Michael Jackson tribute film This Is It will always be overshadowed by the disturbing way it generates huge sums of money from the troubled star's surprising, untimely demise.

It's a sad state of affairs, but hopefully This Is It, the Michael Jackson tribute film, will give mourning fans a chance to spend a little more time with Michael Jackson, the pop star they loved and lost too soon.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson%27s_This_Is_It

http://www.thisisit-movie.com/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/michael-jackson/6454951/Michael-Jackson-movie-This-Is-It-the-reviews.html

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1624861/story.jhtml