Michael Jackson’s This Is It Previews Sell Out Quick
By Jeffrey Hyatt
Tickets went on sale this weekend for the Michael Jackson music documentary This Is It. Unsurprisingly, fans gobbled up all 3,000 tickets in just two hours Sunday in Los Angeles for an advance screening of the film,which features Jackson rehearing for his 02 concert dates in London in the weeks leading up to his death.
Some very enthusiastic fans lined up three days in advance to get their hands on the tickets.
The film debuts simultaneously in 15 cities around the globe, including New York, Los Angeles, London and Berlin on Oct. 28 for a limited two-week run.
“‘This Is It’ may go down as the greatest concert no one got a chance to see,” the movie’s director Kenny Ortega said.
“But with this film we get a rare portrait of Michael as he prepares for his final curtain call.”
Was there any doubt advance tickets wouldn’t sell out in a flash? If tickets weren’t scooped up fast, now that would have been a big story, but right now this movie event is on a bullet train thru Hype City.
Not sure how many tickets remain, but This Is It tix can be purchased at any major movie ticket website, as well as at the flick’s Web site: www.thisisit-movie.com. It might also be interesting to see how involved the ticket brokers will be involved in the process.
This Is It accounted for 71% of all sales yesterday on the ticket site fandango.com, according to the New York Daily News.
The film has been produced from more than 100 hours of behind-the-scenes footage featuring the singer rehearsing a number of his best-known songs for the 02 concerts.
Jeff Blake, Sony’s worldwide marketing and distribution chairman, said:
“Michael Jackson has an army of fans everywhere round the world. By rolling out this film simultaneously worldwide, we are giving audiences an incredible opportunity to join together in celebration of Michael Jackson’s incredible career.”
