Posthumous praise for Jackson as fans flock to film
Entertainment
Posthumous praise for Jackson as fans flock to film
Michael Jackson impersonators danced on stage in the Taipei city centre on Wednesday as hundreds of fans of the King of Pop gathered at the premiere of the Jackson documentary This is it.Performers, from the self-organized MJ's Army of Love (MJAL), danced to popular numbers such as They Don't Really Care About Us, and This is it, a song released after his death from which the film takes its name.The Taipei premiere was scheduled at 0500GMT, four hours after the gala premieres held in London and Los Angeles at 0100GMT, along with 15 cities around the world including Seoul, Johannesburg, Rio De Janeiro, and Berlin.Michael Jackson was invited to Taiwan in 1993 for his Dangerous world tour, which stirred up debate about western pop music on the island and inspired local singers and dancers, including many in the younger generation today.Sony says that since 1994 it has sold about 1.2 million Jackson albums in Hong Kong and Taiwan, despite rampant piracy.This Is It features footage of Jackson rehearsing for his planned residency at London's O2 Arena, which was to have been his farewell to live performance after years of living as a virtual recluse.Global box office estimates vary from more than 600 million U.S. dollars over its planned two-week run down to 100 million -- still a large amount for a movie that is part concert, film, part documentary and all Michael Jackson.
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