Los Angeles - Another stage in the post-mortem hagiography of Michael Jackson kicks off Wednesday as the documentary film of his final concert rehearsals opens in cinemas around the world. The almost two hour movie, This Is It, was hastily cobbled together from 100 hours of footage shot in Los Angeles where Jackson was preparing in the weeks and days before his death in June for what was supposed to be a magnificent comeback that was to have resurrected his career, finances and reputation.
But what he couldn't achieve in life, he looks set to achieve in death. The film has already racked up record advance ticket sales that has many in Hollywood even talking of breaking the 250-million- dollar mark in its first five days in theatres, easily beating the current best opening the current record of 203 million dollars held by the Batman movie The Dark Knight. The film shows footage of Jackson on stage and in meetings and is expected to play just a limited 14-day run in cinemas.
The former king of pop shocked the world for one last time when he died of a drug overdose on June 25, just days before he was due to set off on his sold-out 50-date stint. And just like everything touched by the quixotic character, his final film is tinged with controversy and allegations that he was manipulated by a coterie of advisors and business associates who did not have his best interests at heart.
Such allegations have been circulating widely in recent months, especially after it emerged that the personal physician hired by concert promoter AEG to look after Jackson was allegedly responsible for administering to him the surgical anaesthetic that killed him. But they have been given added weight by a group called This Is Not It that believes that the companies promoting the film - namely AEG and Sony - knew that Jackson's health was deteriorating yet chose to enable his drug supported lifestyle in order to profit from his talent.
On its website the group acknowledges that calling for a boycott would be useless since "millions will go see it, not because they are MJ fans, but because this is pop culture in the making, grim or not".
But the audience needs to see the film with "different eyes," the campaign states. "We can tell you this did not have to be IT and you could be watching Michael Jackson alive on a stage instead of a celluloid picture. If only those who put so much energy into promoting and producing this great example of cinematic fiction would have put 10 per cent of the same energy into trying to save his life."
Kenny Ortega, the director of the movie and the stage show from which it took its name, adamantly denies the allegations. He says that the rehearsal footage of Jackson looking lithe and limber shows that, far from obviously being at death's door, the legendary singer was in the best shape he had been in for a long time.
"I'd been to his home, I'd seen him playing with his children, and seen no evidence ever of anything like that," Ortega said of allegations that everyone knew that Jackson was being propped up by dangerous drugs.
Ortega admitted to CBS that at first the idea of a Jackson movie was "too close, too quick, too emotional." But after he learned that other directors were being lined up for the job the long-time Jackson collaborator and director of the High School Musical realized that it was his duty to take charge of what he called the "sacred material."
According to Ortega he was inundated with e-mails from fans wanting to know just what Jackson had planned for the concerts he would never give. But above all he said he made the movie for Jackson's three children, Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket, "to make them proud of their father."
