8/21/2009

in

The concert film will hit theaters for a limited two-week run.

Tom Helberg

Hoping to craft an event picture, Sony Pictures is releasing "Michael Jackson: This Is It" for a limited two-week run, pushing up the film's opening two days to Wednesday, Oct. 28.  
  
Tickets go on sale Sept. 27. The film will draw from over 80 hours of rehearsal and behind the scenes footage shot for Jackson's "This Is It" concert tour.  
  
"As we began assembling the footage for the motion picture we realized we captured something extraordinary, unique and very special," said the film's director, Kenny Ortega, according to [ABC News](http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/MichaelJackson/story?id=8377813). Ortega, director-choreographer of Disney's "High School Musical" franchise, worked as a creative partner on Jackson's Dangerous and HIStory tours. He also worked with Jackson until his death on the new tour.  
  
The movie's release date was presumably pushed forward to move it farther from Halloween, which falls on a Saturday. The Halloween weekend is one of the toughest weekends of the year for box office returns. Sony hopes that the limited two-week run will encourage high attendance and claim the number one spot at the box office.