Michael Jackson fans are in for a poignant glimpse of what might have been a movie charting the tragic singer's rehearsals for his concert comeback on its worldwide debut today.
More than 100 hours of behind-the-scenes footage for Jackson's aborted return to the stage have been distilled into a two-hour film.
Jackson family members and fans gathered at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles for a 6 pm (0100 GMT Wednesday) premiere, one of more than 15 simultaneous screenings held across five continents in a reflection of the pop icon's global reach.
This Is It will go on a limited two-week release in theaters worldwide starting today, with advance tickets in several countries selling out within days of going on sale last month.
"It's a movie about rehearsing for a concert that never happened," Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal said in a recent interview.
Jackson, who died on June 25 aged 50, had spent the previous four months rehearsing in Los Angeles for a series of 50 concert spectaculars scheduled to begin at London's 02 Arena in July.
More than 800,000 tickets had been sold for the concerts, with organizers promising one of the "most expensive and technically advanced" live shows ever.
Jackson was putting the finishing touches to the show at the time of his death, which authorities in Los Angeles have ruled a homicide.
Video footage from the rehearsals had been intended to help organizers critique the show and was never intended for public viewing. Sony bought the footage for $60 million after executives saw only several minutes.
邁克爾•杰克遜的謝幕演唱會彩排紀錄片于今天在全球首映，這對于這位悲劇巨星的歌迷們來說堪稱一次心酸的追憶。
影片的素材記錄了杰克遜回歸演唱會彩排幕后的一些鏡頭，原長達100多個小時，之后被壓縮為兩個小時。
（美國當地時間27日晚），杰克遜的家人和歌迷齊聚洛杉磯的諾基亞劇院，參加于六時開始的首映式（格林尼治時間周三凌晨1時）。該紀錄片同時在全球五大洲、超過15個城市公映，由此可見這位流行天王在全球的影響力。
《就是這樣》于今天在全球公映后，僅將在影院上映兩周。上月，該片的預售票在好幾個國家出現幾天即售罄的搶購熱潮。
索尼影業(yè)的聯(lián)合主席艾米•帕斯卡在最近的一次訪談中說：“這是一部關于一場未能與觀眾見面的演唱會的紀錄片�！�
杰克遜于今年6月25日去世，享年50歲。在去世前的四個月，他一直在洛杉磯為他的50場大型系列演唱會排練。杰克遜的演唱會原定于今年7月份在倫敦的02 Arena場館拉開序幕。
杰克遜的50場演唱會共售出80多萬張門票，演唱會組織方曾許諾這將會是史上“耗資最多、技術最先進”的現場演出之一。
杰克遜在去世前夕還在為演唱會做最后的準備。杰克遜的死被洛杉磯當地相關機構認定為他殺。
為演唱會彩排拍攝的視頻原本是為了幫助演唱會組織方對演出進行評判，而非呈現給公眾。在管理層僅看了幾分鐘的片段之后，索尼即耗資6000萬美元買下了所有的拍攝資料。
Vocabulary:
be in for: guaranteed to get or have 肯定會有，肯定會得到（You're in for a big surprise. 你一定會有一個大驚喜。）
poignant:keenly distressing to the mind or feelings（痛苦的）
comeback: a return to formerly enjoyed status or prosperity 重整旗鼓，復出
footage: an amount or length of film or videotape 影片長度
reach: range or scope of influence or effect 影響范圍
advance tickets:預售票
finishing touches:最后一筆；最后修整
