How many commemorative costumes will people be able to wear to the screenings of the film version of Michael Jackson’s aborted This Is It concert series, which is scheduled to arrive in theaters on Oct. 30? I can already count about 15 from the “Thriller” video alone. The flick will be edited from some 80 hours of rehearsal footage that were assembled in the weeks leading up to Jackson’s passing on June 25, with High School Musical franchise director Kenny Ortega—who worked with Jackson on dance moves for the show—assembling the filmed material into a finished product.

“The world will see what our team was so fortunate to experience, which was the full commitment, passion and creativity that Michael put into the project,” Ortega said in a statement.


As part of the deal, Sony will deduct the cost of making the movie from the $60-million minimum. After covering its costs for distribution and marketing, it then will split the rest of the film’s revenue with the Jackson Estate and AEG via a complex formula that was redacted from a copy of the agreement filed in court.


Sony Pictures will release the film Oct. 30 as a worldwide event. Though the studio will undoubtedly try to tie it to Jackson’s Halloween music video “Thriller,” it will be a challenging weekend at the domestic box office because Halloween falls on a Saturday, typically the biggest moviegoing day of the week.


Many of the fall’s best movie release dates are already crowded with releases. The only other movie currently scheduled to open Oct. 30 is a Weinstein Co. comedy, “Youth in Revolt.”

Sony Pictures to produce Michael Jackson film [LAT]