Jackson's 'This Is It' ticket sales start strong: Strong enough?

Box Office history for concert films hardly blockbuster

By Katie Hasty Monday, Sep 28, 2009 7:06 PM

Tickets for "Michael Jackson's This Is It" rehearsal footage/concert film went up yesterday despite the fact that the limited 2-week run of the film starts a month out on Oct. 28.

MovieTickets.com has been handling the pre-sale "This Is It," and according to Sony Pictures and the Associated Press, screening for Los Angeles sold out in a matter of two hours last night. Sony, who bought the flick for $60 million, also says that 30,000 tickets have been sold total over 24 hours.

However, as of press time, fans in New York have lots of options: tickets are available for every date during the October/November run, including plenty of Oct. 27 "midnight" showings. Maybe there's something in the water?

Click here to order your tickets.

It's definitely in Sony's best interest that fans show up at the box office: with the price tag at which the movie was bought, plus whatever they owe the Jackson estate, the company likely needs gross around $150 million worldwide to break even. The company says it's moved $1 million in Japan already, so at least they're on their way.

The highest grossing concert movie so far came with the 3D "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour," which has logged $65.3 million since it hit theaters Feb. 1, 2008. Right behind it is another 3D film, "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience," with $19.2 million after bowing earlier this year.

"Michael Jackson's This Is It" is comprised of footage culled from hours of Michael Jackson's rehearsals leading up to his scheduled 50-date stint at London's O2 Arena. The King of Pop passed on June 25, mere days before he was to start in July.

As previously reported, a new Jackson single by the same name ("This Is It") is due Oct. 12.

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.