Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
Entertainment
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Film
Music
People
Television
Arts
Industry
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Jackson tragedy begets cinematic triumph
Sun Nov 1, 2009 4:18pm EST
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Ray Waddell
NASHVILLE (Billboard) - For "This Is It," Michael Jackson's planned 50-concert residency at London's O2 Arena, the star's sudden death really could have been "it," with millions of dollars lost for producer/promoter AEG Live and the star's vision never realized.
Instead, the movie and music divisions of Sony have a film and soundtrack to sell, and AEG will share in the proceeds. But neither would have happened if the companies hadn't had fire-drill-paced meetings to turn a human tragedy into what is already being described as a creative and financial triumph.
On October 26, Sony's Epic label released the double-disc set "This Is It" to coincide with the release of the movie of the same name, which arrived in theaters to critical acclaim October 28 and grossed $101 million worldwide during its first five days.
"The film answers a lot of questions," says Rob Stringer, chairman of Sony Music. "I can't comment on a lot of issues that were going on with Michael, nor can anyone else, it's very difficult. But you want to know that he was still a fantastic entertainer, that he still cared, that he was still musically amazing. And all those things are just obvious in this film."
The saga began with the announcement last March of Jackson's string of shows at the O2, the result of two years of talks between Jackson and AEG Live. The ideas discussed included a tour, a few shows and, finally, a residency.
"It took a while for (Jackson) to get comfortable with this, but when he finally made the decision that he wanted to do something, we were in the unique position where London was obviously the perfect place to do it," says AEG CEO Tim Leiweke.
Ticket sales for the initial 10 shows blew up at the box office, and the number of dates was raised to 50. Although all parties were taken aback by the demand, Leiweke says Jackson was fully committed to 50 shows, despite reports to the contrary. "We've heard all of the speculation and opinions out there, but the reality is this is something Michael wanted to do," he says.
Conceptually, Leiweke says the production was "all Michael's" vision -- and that vision was expensive. "It was budgeted to be $12 million, but Michael had big dreams and big vision," Leiweke says. "By the time we were ready to go to London we were at $35 million."
In March Jackson reached out to Frank DiLeo, who managed him during a spectacular '80s run.
"Even though he fired me, Michael was still my friend. We never lost the friendship," says DiLeo, who had "no hesitation" about coming back to work for Jackson. "I was extremely excited about being back with him, because we were a magical team in the '80s. He missed it, I missed it."
As rehearsals got under way, public skepticism turned into anticipation. Even the rehearsals two nights before Jackson's death "were extraordinary," Leiweke says. "Everyone came out of there talking about how incredible it was."
The June 24 rehearsal didn't run as long, Leiweke says, and Jackson spent much of that time reviewing video production elements. "He wasn't taxing his voice that night because he was getting ready for London," Leiweke says.
At 12:30 p.m. June 25, Leiweke received a call informing him Jackson had been taken to the hospital. "Like the rest of the world, we were on the outside," he says. "Randy (Phillips, AEG Live's CEO) didn't know specifics until he got to the hospital, and by then, unfortunately, it was our worst scenario. It was shocking because what we knew was he was healthy -- of that we were certain."
As word of Jackson's death spread, AEG had no time to mourn. The company shifted from preproduction to damage control.
"A lot of decisions were made between Tim Leiweke and myself on cell phone while I was standing outside the emergency room," Phillips says. "The first thing we did was have our security close off Staples Center, shut down the production and put all of our intellectual property into the vault at Staples Center so nobody could get near it or leave with it." Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
Qatari firm in talks to make Prophet Mohammad film
Also on Reuters
U.S. looks to work with, and around, Karzai
A key figure in 2010 election: U.S. jobless rate
October retail sales look to capture fall momentum
More Entertainment News
No eternity with Marilyn Monroe as crypt auction fails again
Scandal does not hurt David Letterman's ratings
Michael Jackson film dances to No. 1 worldwide
Mel Gibson and girlfriend welcome a baby girl: media
"Twilight" sequel soundtrack hopes to make killing
More Entertainment News...
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
CIT Group files for bankruptcy
Palestinians accuse U.S. of killing peace prospects
Wal-Mart announces second round of toy price cuts
Favre return leaves Packers fans seeking directions
UPDATE 3-Human Genome lupus drug succeeds in BLISS-76 trial
Wall St Week Ahead: Goodbye to all that stimulus?
Nine U.S. banks seized in largest one-day haul
Simple Afghan mission turns deadly for U.S. soldiers | Video
Late rally lifts Yankees to brink of title
Goodbye to all that stimulus?
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Japan's pregnant pose nude
American wins men's marathon
Russian cargo plane crashes
Abdullah withdraws from Afghan vote
Six bodies found at rapist's home
Top mafia fugitive arrested
Transsexuals descend on Thailand
Mexicans honor their departed
Friendship found over Berlin Wall
Maoists march on Kathmandu
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Labs |
Journalism Handbook |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.