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By Daniel Frankel
TheWrap
Over the last two decades, Michael Jackson's brand endured mixed appeal in the U.S., but it remained strong in other parts of the world.
That became hugely evident over the last five days, via global ticket sales for rehearsal footage from the concert tour the singer died before performing. Distilled into the Sony-distributed feature "This Is It," the film earned just $32.5 million over its first five days in North America, falling short of even the low end of studio projections, which had it at about $35 million.
However, internationally, the movie took in an estimated $62.5 million over the same period, according to Sony. Boasting the fifth biggest international opening this year, that will likely put the studio in the black on a project it paid $60 million to concert promoter AEG Live to get off the ground. Sony also invested minimally to market the picture globally.
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"By the time they're done, they'll be profitable," noted one rival studio distribution executive. "Although, it won't be the kind of windfall profits they were hoping for."
Indeed, returns won't match the publicly stated $250 million prediction of at least one AEG official, but Sony officials said they're more than pleased with the outcome, which occurred over a weekend that had its overall profitability disrupted by Halloween falling on Saturday.
While declaring the movie the highest grossing concert film of all time worldwide, Sony also announced Sunday -- to the surprise of few -- that it extended the movie's initial two-week theatrical engagement in most of the world.
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