VIDEO: New Michael Jackson Film Hits Theaters Tonight
Oct. 27 2009, Published 2:22 p.m. ET
As it launches its limited, two-week engagement, Michael Jackson's new film, This Is It, will simultaneously roll-out on 20,000 screens in locations including California, London, New York and Japan at midnight EST Wednesday.
The film showcases the late Thriller singer's final set of rehearsals at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, California this past spring, as he was preparing for this summer's planned residency at London's O2 Arena. The movie is expected to generate big bucks, as some industry-based surveys have projected the concert film could take in as much as $40 million in its opening weekend.
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The film will have a limited engagement -- running only two weeks.
Frank DiLeo, Jackson's former manager, said of the film: "If we were able to watch Michelangelo decide what colors to put on the Sistine Chapel ceilings, what drawings, that's what Michael did, and everybody will get to see that."
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DiLeo, addressing controversy that has arisen with the film's release, said that allegations that a body double was used in the film, made by the late King of Pop's father, Joe Jackson, are false.
"Exactly what you see onstage is exactly what he was in real life," he said.