Pre-sale tickets for Michael Jackson’s posthumous theatrical release “This Is It” have earned a new title for the late King Of Pop. A spokesperson for Fandango.com, a leading online movie ticket retailer, has said at this point in time, “This Is It” is the “best-selling concert film of all time.”
Combined, Fandango.com and MovieTickets.com report sold-out presales tickets for nearly 1000 showings of the film which opens Wednesday, October 28.
“This is astonishing,” a spokesperson for Fandango.com said. “We were expecting a huge rush of ticket sales within the first few days. They are still going strong as of Thursday, fives days in. It shows no sign of abating.”
Joel Cohen, executive vice president and general manager of MovieTickets.com, also said the pre-sale tickets exceeded his already high expectations for the film.
“Michael Jackson is such an iconic figure, with a fan base that transcends even some of the most bankable stars in Hollywood,” Cohen said. “We expected there to be a large demand for tickets for an ‘event’ film like this one, but MovieTickets.com has never seen such a high volume of sellouts this far in advance for any movie.”
Fandango.com compared the first three days of “This Is it” ticket sales to those of Miley Cyrus’ “Hannah Montana 3D” concert film released last year. “This Is It” ticket sales outsold “Hannah Montana” pre-sales by a “factor of 3 to 1″ when compared to the “same point in the film’s film cycle.” Both had limited theatrical releases. “This Is It” will be in theatres for two weeks. “Hannah Montana 3D” was in theatres for one week.
“This Is It” is a documentary style movie chronicling Michael Jackson’s rehearsals for his reported final tour. Jackson died on June 25, less than three weeks before the planned July 13 opening date at the o2 arena.
