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The movie was only supposed to run for about two weeks in the domestic market. It was only expected to draw in a certain amount of money and then quietly disappear into the rest of the frenzy surrounding Michael Jackson’s death. For some, This Is It was to be a glorious reminder of Michael Jackson’s incredible dancing and musical talents. For others it was yet another way to exploit the King of Pop who suffered for many years due to abuse, depression and the strange life of a child star thrown into the spotlight. Whichever side you’re on, you can’t argue the fact that people wanted to see This Is It and probably judge the credibility of the movie for themselves. Well, the box office numbers are in and the entire world proved that even in death Michael Jackson remains the King of Pop and, some might say, the king of the world. This Is It pulled in $101 million worldwide on its opening weekend to take the #1 spot at the box office, even beating out the much-hyped supernatural thriller Paranormal Activity. Thanks to the crazy success of the film, This Is It will continue to show through Thanksgiving weekend. Considering Sony had to pay $60 million for the rights to the film, they took a big gamble on whether or not this film would work—luckily for them it did. On the international market, This Is It brought in $68.8 million. Celebrities from across the globe came out to the international premieres to support the opening of the film, and to the Sony distributors it wasn’t a big surprise that there was such a huge international turnout. "He's just loved everywhere on the planet," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. "It doesn't matter if it's Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, South America. Every continent in the world loved him and his music." MTV.com had an awesome gallery of celebrities that went to the international premieres of the Michael Jackson tribute. The footage for This Is It was shot during dress rehearsals for MJ’s 50 show resident appearance at London’s O2 arena, which had international fans clamoring for tickets. Over in Japan, a country known for having a huge amount of Michael Jackson fans, Lionel Richie attended the premiere, being photographed with a Japanese fan wearing an MJ mask and Thriller-era jacket. Ice-T and Rosie Perez attended the NYC premiere and auto-tune king T-Pain was photographed down under at the Australian premiere. There is no doubt that This Is It will continue to bring in big numbers at the box office, but it’s interesting to wonder what’s next to keep MJ’s memory alive.
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