'This Is It' dominates sales, Blu-ray charts
Michael Jackson concert film sold an estimated 1.2 million

By Thomas K. Arnold
Feb 3, 2010, 07:22 PM ET

"This Is It"

Michael Jackson fever continues to rage, nearly eight months after the king of pop's death.

"This Is It," the concert film about the comeback tour that never happened, shot to No. 1 on the national home video sales charts its first week in stores, selling through to consumers an estimated 1.2 million copies, according to Home Media Magazine market research.

That's believed to be a record for first-week sales of a music film.

The Sony Pictures Home Entertainment release also was the No. 1 Blu-ray Disc seller for the week ending Jan. 31, according to Nielsen VideoScan research. Of the film's total disc sales, 21% were on Blu-ray Disc.

"This Is It" was released simultaneously in Japan and, according to Sony, beat expectations there as well. Sony Pictures mounted a huge publicity campaign in support of the release, including a YouTube video of Filipino prisoners dancing to two Jackson tunes from the film that generated more than 3 million hits. The clip included a card at the end promoting the DVD/Blu-ray Disc release of the film.

Several other new releases also debuted high on the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart for the week, including Walt Disney Studios' "Surrogates" at No. 2, Lionsgate's "Saw VI" at No. 3 and 20th Century Fox's "Whip It" at No. 5, right behind holdover "The Hangover," from Warner.

Meanwhile, on Home Media Magazine's video rental chart for the week, "Surrogates" debuted at No. 1 and "Whip It" bowed at No. 2. Lionsgate's "Gamer," the top renter the previous week, slipped to No. 3, while Summit Entertainment's "The Hurt Locker" finished fourth -- a standing that will likely rise with the film's recent best picture Oscar nomination.

"This Is It" debuted at No. 5 on the rental chart, and "Saw VI" bowed at No. 6.


http://www.hollywoodrepor...bf0e2d45ca

bboy87 said:

bboy87 said:

You should be posting that on that other thread discussing just the dvd right here http://prince.org/msg/8/327743

Dancer recalls Michael Jackson's last day of life

The pop legend that Daniel Celebre rehearsed with gave no hint that he'd be dead within a day

By Richard Ouzounian Theatre Critic
Published On Tue Oct 20 2009



What was Michael Jackson's state of mind 13 hours before he was pronounced dead?

"He was happy, he was smiling, he was laughing with us," remembers Daniel Celebre, who was a principal dancer in the superstar's This Is It comeback tour.

Celebre had been rehearsing with Jackson in Los Angeles "for three months, eight hours a day and he always danced full out. His energy was amazing, man."

In fact, on June 24, the last day of Jackson's life, director Kenny Ortega staged the show and "we ran through the whole thing and finished at about 1:30 in the morning," Celebre, a dancer based in Toronto, recalled in an interview yesterday at the midtown BDX dance studio.

"The feeling was unbelievable. Michael was at the top of his game. People who had known him for years said he'd never danced better.

"We even ran `Thriller' for the first time in costume and the people from wardrobe were in the audience crying. They told us `You guys don't understand how amazing it looks.'"

When asked if Jackson seemed tired or under strain, Celebre shook his head emphatically. "Every day he looked fly, but that day, he was better than ever. He looked young, man. His form was so perfect."

Every evening Jackson and the dancers would say goodnight to each other. That night was no exception. "We always hugged. I said `Hey Mikey, I love you,' and he said, `I love you too, bro.'"

And that's the last Celebre ever saw of Jackson.

The next day is a hard one for the 24-year-old to remember, because it ended a longtime dream.

Celebre was born in Nobleton, Ont., from "a large and close-knit Italian family." His mother took him to jazz and tap lessons at the age of 4. Soon he was into hip hop, breakdancing and his favourite, electric boogaloo, "which I tried to do just like Michael Jackson."

He did lots of club, promotional, TV and movie work, playing opposite Hilary Duff as the dance double for the male lead in the climactic scene of The Lizzie McGuire Movie when he was only 18.

But in 2007, "I stopped dancing, for personal reasons. I wanted to be the best dancer I could be and all people wanted were the stunts I could do. `Can this guy spin on his head? Can he do the flip?' Of course I could, but I knew I could be so much more than that and so I just walked away."

His father had taken over La Salumeria, the Italian deli on Yonge near Davisville, so Celebre joined him there. On April 10, he was "slicing some mortadella" when he got a call from his agent in California.

"I know you've been turning down every job I've offered you for two years, but you always said the only person you'd come back for is Michael Jackson. Well, you've got an audition for him tomorrow. Get out here."

At first, Celebre resisted, but his father said, "Daniel, you're going on the plane tomorrow. Hurry up."

He was giddy with excitement, rather than nail-bitingly nervous.

"Everybody else on the line was stressing out. I just kept dancing. `What are you nervous about, people?' I'd tell 'em. `This is Michael. Let's have fun.'"

They whittled the dancers from 500 to 250 and finally to 10. After he made the last cut, he met Jackson.

"I shook his hand. It was huge, man. He had the glasses, the hair, the black suit. We stood there and I thought, `You're nothing but love, man.'"

Celebre loved the rehearsals and hard work that made everybody better and better. And then came June 25.

"We were all sitting in our dressing rooms, ready to start rehearsals. I was watching a clip of Mikey doing `Ease on Down the Road' from The Wiz on my computer.

"We never had the TV on, but somebody had put it on 'cause Farrah Fawcett had just passed. Then we started to get the news about Mikey.... People were running down the halls screaming. Some fell to their knees. Everybody was crying. Everybody."

The rehearsals were filmed and will now be released as the much-anticipated movie This Is It on Oct. 28, but Celebre hates recalling the funeral, the memorial, "all those things that rub my nose in the fact that he's gone."

Celebre prefers to recall the first day of rehearsal.

"He told us he was taking us on an awesome adventure ... and he did."

http://www.thestar.com/en...ay-of-life

http://news.xinhuanet.com...159143.htm

MACAO, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Michael Jackson Gallery opened its doors to the public on Monday at Macao's Ponte 16 casino hotel, showcasing over 40 iconic items of MJ's career, including his famous rhinestone glove.

The opening ceremony of the Gallery, the first of its kind in Asia, was held Monday evening, which was attended by pop stars and local officials.

MJ's iconic items such as the rhinestone glove, a pair of crystal socks worn by him during his Victory Tour in 1984, MJ- signed Motown 25 Special Billie Jean Photo, his "Victory" Tour black fedora, and other items are displayed in the gallery's main exhibition hall.

Dubbed by fans as the "holy Grail of Michael Jackson memorabilia" and seen as the main attraction of the Gallery, the sparkling white glove is famed for being worn by Michael Jackson in 1983 at Motown's 25th anniversary TV special, where he performed Billie Jean and showcased the legendary Moonwalk for the very first time.

The Ponte 16 casino resort, which is half-owned by local gaming tycoon Stanley Ho's company SJM, paid about 350,000 U.S. dollars for the item at auctions held last year in New York.

Aside from the exhibition hall, the gallery also consists of a "time tunnel" that showed the most important moments of MJ's music life through pictures and videos, a music video showroom that plays his famous "Billie Jean" MV, and a gift shop.

Ambrose So, chairman of Ponte 16, said at the opening ceremony that they have spent a fortune on the collector items displayed at the gallery, and hoped that the gallery will become a tourist attraction at his hotel.

http://www.digitalspy.co....death.html

By Daniel Kilkelly, Entertainment Reporter


A group of performers in Merseyside are to release their own version of Michael Jackson's hit song 'Heal The World' to raise money for an appeal set up in memory of murdered toddler James Bulger.

The late singer gave his permission for the project to go ahead before his death on June 25, the Liverpool Daily Post reports.

Bulger was 2 years old when he was abducted and killed by 10-year-old boys Jon Venables and Robert Thompson in 1993. His mother Denise Fergus, from Kirkby, Merseyside has since set up the James Bulger Red Balloon Centre Appeal to raise funds for a learner centre for bullied children who cannot attend mainstream schools.

Fergus commented: "[Michael] was aware of James as he sent a personal message to me with a large basket of flowers. He wrote a couple of lines for James and he named it 'Child of Innocence'.

"We played Michael's song at James's funeral. I've listened to 'Heal The World' over and over again and it gave me such a buzz when we found out we could release it to raise money for the James Bulger House."

She added: "The words in the song are very touching. I feel the world does need healing with children committing crimes. It is very upsetting the way the world is at the moment, bullying is going on everywhere."

The song will be available for download from October 26. Physical copies of the single will also be stocked in selected shops

bboy87 said:

Niiice! But why so many Motown 25 gloves?

ViintageJunkiie said:

I´ve always loved this performance. He´s so funny. Gotta love him.

dag said:

could u imagine if his ass was OUT the chair?!
[Edited 2/4/10 0:49am]

Redone Talks about his work with Michael Jackson

RedOne is awesome. Hopefully the stuff he did with MJ gets released.

Regarding the Daniel Celebre article, I hate when journalists write shit like this:



Of course he didn't because he wasn't sick, he wasn't dying. Admittedly - he wasn't in good shape, he wasn't eating enough and he was pushing himself too hard.

But not bad enough that he would die. He was killed. It's a homicide. Are the media just not realizing or not understanding that or what? Well, maybe when that fuckstain Murray is rotting in jail they'll understand.

bboy87 said:

Militant said:

You should read all the crap being reported here in the states

Lawyer says Michael Jackson's doctor is negotiating surrender with authorities


at 13:57 on February 4, 2010, EDT.
By Anthony Mccartney,Thomas Watkins, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES - With a criminal charge looming, Michael Jackson's doctor is negotiating his surrender to Los Angeles authorities, his attorney said Thursday.

A statement from Ed Chernoff said he was negotiating with the district attorney's office for Dr. Conrad Murray to turn himself in, but there has been no agreement on specifics.

"When the agreement is complete, we will report further," Chernoff said.

Murray has maintained that nothing he gave Jackson should have killed him.

Murray's arraignment already has been set for Friday afternoon, a person familiar with the planning told The Associated Press. The person declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation.

The possible charge was not disclosed. However, two law enforcement officials have told the AP prosecutors plan to charge Murray with involuntary manslaughter, alleging he gave Jackson a powerful anesthetic that led to his June 25 overdose death at a rented mansion in Los Angeles.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney, would not confirm or deny that Murray would appear Friday at the courthouse.

Murray, who has a practice in Houston, came to Los Angeles last weekend and has been strategizing with his defence team.

Police have been investigating Murray since Jackson's death. The doctor told detectives he'd given the singer a powerful anesthetic and other sedatives to get the chronic insomniac star to sleep. Jackson, 50, died soon thereafter, and investigators have been gathering evidence to try to show Murray was negligent in administering the drugs.

-

Associated Press Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch in Los Angeles and Associated Press Writer Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed to this report.


©The Canadian Press, 2010

This is a post from Part 8




Can anyone in their right mind say that Michael was "credibly accused of child molestation"? The first kid "confessed" while under anesthesia and the 2nd kid stated on the Martin Brashier interview that he slept in the bed while Michael slept on the floor.

tmo1965 said:

Oh hell not this crap again

The man is "d.e.a.d." ..... let's move on coz that will never die.

Collaborations that could've happened

1983

Michael Jackson writing andf producing a Barbra Streisand album?! I wonder what happened with those plans.

Years later,he asked Barbra to duet with him on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You".

tmo1965 said:

CREDIBLE? L.O.L.. That kid was a joke. He contradicted himself every time he spoke. I could give you thousands of examples. The best one, though, has to be the alarm ringing story. Or perhaps the air balloon one. Damnit, hard to choose. The fact is: the kid, his mother, his sister and, mainly, his brother were JOKES.

MOL said:

facts like the hot air balloon never got the proper play in the media, therefore, this rep. fincher is not alone in his ignorance, (or maybe like some people on this board, they don't want to discuss it b/c it doesn't fit into their 'opinions' - not facts, but opinions - about mj, or they dismiss it as old news... )

kibbles said:

yeah....

I have said it before and I will say it again, if people in general don't believe in Michael's innocence , or don't believe his fans (his supporters) then they can get the COURT Transcripts , Court Transcript DON'T lie, the truth is there, they can read but they are so lazy to do it, they prefer to jump on the media bandwagon, its more easier.

seeingvoices12 said:

I thought Michael was guilty until I started reading court transcripts. Now, I don't understand how did this case managed to go to trial. This case was laughable. LAUGHABLE. Michael never had to worry about anything.

What story made you laugh more?

My answer: The Jason Francia one. Remember when Meserau presented Jason, after his testimony, with a video of him admitting he was inventing a case against Jackson? Remember when Jason confessed he had been given money by National Enquirer and Diane Demon to lie? Remember when Jason actually admitted that his balls had never been tickled improperly and that his mother just wanted the money?
Yet, I'm still undecided... the staff's stories are also amazing. Mainly when they admitt that they are lying. But Gavin's stories are the best. Simply the best. The way he always contradicted himself and the way he "forgets" and "remembers" some things are simply fantastic. Let's not even mention Star's fairytales (here comes the alarm story!).
[Edited 2/5/10 11:23am]

SoulAlive said:

I already know I would've loved to have been around in 1979/80

Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed This is It. I thought it was very well done and MJ sounded great and looked healthy too. It's sad to think that we will never see him perform again and it's also sad that he didn't get to perform at the O2.

MOL said:

wow, i didn't know about this. i remembered francia's mom was a stone cold liar, and that usa today had printed a story that she had filed a complaint against the prosecutors at one point b/c they were actually taking her son out of school to interrogate him w/o her permission. how they wound up on the prosecution's list, i'll never know. i believe the mother is the woman mentioned in the gq/mary fisher article who was interrogated by howard weitzman and admitted she'd been paid for her stories and was lying about seeing any untoward behavior on mj's part.

for my part, i knew mj was innocent when i saw a woman on hard copy that i had met before about 1 1/2 years earlier. she interviewed for the job i was leaving. she used to work for mj. she said she had left b/c she wanted to pursue other opportunities, but that mj was sooooo kind. she talked about how he would call the office and ask them to go out and purchase sleeping bags, food and clothing to distribute to the homeless, stuff like that. then i saw her on t.v. spouting the usual 'i-was-fired-because-i-knew-too-much' crap.

i read in the l.a. times that she subsequently retracted her accusations.

money is indeed the root of all evil.
[Edited 2/5/10 12:54pm]

Not sure whether this is a good idea not but the fans have decided to take action (or at least do something)

This message has been posted through facebook and most the Michael Jackson forums.

CALL THE LAPD AND TELL THEM A PROTEST IS GOING TO HAPPEN UNLESS CONRAD MURRAY IS ARRESTED IN HANDCUFFS! DO IT NOW! SPREAD THE WORD IMMEDIATELY AND CALL!!!!! 213-486-68903

b3xy said:

Yeah when I saw people doing that, I kinda said "okay"

I don't know if it's a good idea. Props to the fans who have taken action but I'm not sure if that's what should be done

SoulAlive said:

I wonder too, just like the Thomas Dolby collabo that never happened