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Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2009 > July > 22
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Michael Jackson’s “Last concert” movie - will you see it?
Word broke this week that Sony will likely release a theatrical film culled from more than 80 hours of footage of what turned out to be Michael Jackson’s final rehearsals. The director may be Kenny Ortega, best known most recently for helming the three High School Musicals.
I greet this news with, if you will, an understanding shudder. On the one hand, the idea strikes me as incredibly crass and ghoulish - especially since some of the rehearsal footage was shot the night before Jackson died.
And yet, we all know that crass commercialism and Michael Jackson go hand-in-hand - even beyond the grave. Some might say especially beyond the grave. And the concert promoter AEG has to find some way to make back all the money they lost in the original concert investment.
Still, I can’t call myself terribly interested in this concert film - the whole endeavor leaves a bad taste in my mouth. There is a tribute concert being organized for Aug. 29 - what would have been Jackson’s 51st birthday - using the same set list Jackson was to have performed. That will appear on TV - and I find that much more palatable.
LATE UPDATE: The movie is still moving forward, but plans for the TV tribute special have fallen apart, according to the LA Times. Figures.
But will you see the Jackson concert film?
