Sony has released the DVD and Blu-ray cover art for the film.
[Edited 10/29/09 11:02am]

Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” On Pace to Break Movie Records
10/29/09


Michael Jackson’s This Is It began its two-week theatrical run by grossing $2.2 million from its special advanced screenings alone, putting the doc on pace for the highest-grossing opening week for a concert film ever.

The current record holder is Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour, which made $31 million its opening weekend in 2008, Variety reports. This Is It grossed an additional $2.2 million by midday Wednesday, and early foreign estimates predict the film is doing just as well overseas.

Sony bought the hundreds of hours of footage and distribution rights of This Is It for $60 million from AEG Live, the concert promoter staging Jackson’s run of 50 concerts at London’s O2 Arena. Unlike most films that are in production for the better part of a year, This Is It only had a turnaround of three months from when the footage was purchased to when it was released, but by all accounts so far, including Elizabeth Taylor’s, This Is It is a success.

The film’s soundtrack is also poised to top the charts next week.
As reported from an advance screening in New York that “This Is It is proof that Jackson did still have it: the magical voice, the gravity-defying moves (most of them), the clear-headed artistic vision of one of the greatest artists of our time.” Audiences were packed with fans paying tribute to Jackson — some came to the theater in bejeweled gloves, others did the “Thriller” dance in the theater lobby.

As a testament of Jackson’s worldwide appeal, when the film premiered in Los Angeles at 6 p.m. PST Tuesday, This Is It was unveiled simultaneously around the world, so many sold-out theaters in Europe were actually premiering the film at 2 a.m. or later.


http://www.rollingstone.c...e-records/

Rorywan said:

True.... I do need a new player anyway

I loved it! I definitely want to see it agian

edit: my mistake. Wrong date


starts looking at the prices for a Blu Ray player
[Edited 10/29/09 10:19am]

bboy87 said:

The prices have come down quite a bit.

seeingvoices12 said:

??

Fortunately I already have a BluRay player but I need appropriate speakers. Seems that the audio isn't the same from a regular DVD to BluRay. Guess I'll put them on my Christmas list. Along with the movie of course.
[Edited 10/29/09 10:31am]

Well, any Blu-Ray player is going to downconvert the audio to regular analog stereo or digital stereo if all you have are stereo speakers, but to get the best sound you'll want at least a 5.1 audio setup.

I guess I'll just watch the blu-ray special features on Youtube.

Fuck Sony. Fucking fuckers.

JackieBlue said:

Sounds like your amp may be the issue and u need a 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 or 7.2 setup.

MattyJam said:

According to court documents made available to the media, MJ's estate will receive 90% of the film's profits. "This Is It" is a win-win for all parties.

Graycap23 said:

Thanks. That's a start I guess. I need to figure this stuff out so I can buy something decent.

it topped 20m on it's 1st day.

http://movies.yahoo.com/n...on-reuters

So can you play regular DVD's on a Blue-ray player? I am pricing the Blue-ray players,but I don't want to get rid of my DVD player if it isn't going to play both.

EmeraldSkies said:

yes, impoves the picture for regular DVD's too (known as upscaling)

Marrk said:

thank you!

EmeraldSkies said:

I purchase a Blueray that plays at 24 FPS (Frames per second) and I can barely tell the difference between the Blueray and regular DVD on a 1080P screen.

20 mil worldwide opening night

bboy87 said:

Brilliant isn't it. i'm caving in and seeing it Saturday.

Just...can't...resist...fantastic...reviews!

bboy87 said:

Tuesday night + Wednesday - US/Canada underperformed.

Marrk said:

Don't resist it, let the awesomeness embrace you....



Dude I'm going to see it again this weekend and again on the 7th. I was so amped after seeing it I couldn't sleep

PS. ORGNOTE ME RIGHT NOW

snowmt said:

'underperformed'? compared to what? the larger outside world? and no mention of numbers for Asia and Australasia.

http://movies.yahoo.com/n...on-reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson movie "This Is It" earned $20.1 million at worldwide box offices on its first day in theaters as fans around the globe turned out in strong numbers, a Columbia Pictures spokesman said on Thursday.

The ticket sales broke down to $7.4 million in the United States and Canada, and another $12.7 million internationally with United Kingdom box offices ringing up just under $2 million and French sales of about $1.4 million, said the movie studio.

Columbia Pictures is a unit of The Sony Corp's Sony Pictures Entertainment media group.
[Edited 10/29/09 13:14pm]

Switching to Blue-ray isn't doing the economy any better

I just got back home from the theatre. I am speechless. Totally speechless. Mike has never given a better performance. I hope certain individuals who spent countless hours proclaiming he couldn´t sing or do anything go and see it and that it will shut them up already.
[Edited 10/29/09 14:21pm]

Graycap23 said:

for me, the screen makes the difference

An upscaled DVD looks nice, but a Blu-Ray is clearly superior to me. I'm amazed that people can't tell the difference. It's like not being able to tell the difference between a picture taken on an iPhone or one taken on a 12mp digital camera.

funkycat00 said:

I'm paraphrasing 'waxpoetics' magazine here -

'Making Michael Jackson's Thriller' practically started the home video market back in '84, despite it showing on TV all day everyday, somebody called Austin Furst got the idea to sell it at retail for $24.95, instead of renting $100 video tapes out at $5 a time, he cut out hte intermediarys.(John Landis was baffled. "Who the fuck is going to buy this when they can watch it for free?") The idea worked and it paved the way for sell-through videos and DVD, a cornerstone of Hollywoods business model thes last twenty years.

Maybe 'TII' will do wonders for Blu-Ray sales, there's more than a couple of folks on this thread alone thinking of buying a player just for this release. times that by how many?

Michael is truly amazing.


[Edited 10/29/09 14:54pm]

Superstition said:

More people need eye-tests. I swear when they can't tell the difference, it's the only logical answer!