Sony Pictures Entertainment, in conjunction with Sony Music Entertainment, today announced that the first 24-hours of pre-sales activity for Michael Jackson’s This Is It has resulted in record-breaking sales throughout the world as fans secure the first tickets to the two-week, limited engagement of the highly-anticipated motion picture. With reports still coming in from nations around the world, it is believed no movie in history has generated so many ticket sales so far in advance of its release.

In North America, online ticket sellers Fandango and MovieTickets.com report that there is extraordinary demand for the film with hundreds of showtimes already sold out after one day of pre-sales. Some 80% of all online ticketing service transactions were for the film, which will debut in some markets with special advance showings the evening of Tuesday, October 27 and will open worldwide on Wednesday, October 28. The film is directed by long-time Jackson collaborator Kenny Ortega. Domestically, an unprecedented number of shows for the two-week engagement have sold out in the first 24 hours of ticket availability in locations from coast-to-coast, including such cities as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Nashville and New York, among others. Internationally, exhibitors from London and Sydney to Bangkok and Tokyo have experienced the same epic demand.
In London, Vue Entertainment’s Film Buying Director Stuart Boreman said Michael Jackson’s This Is It sold more than 30,000 tickets in its first 24-hours, setting the biggest ever one-day sales record in the UK, eclipsing advance buying for films including Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. “I’ve never seen anything like it in the 25 years I have been film buying,” Boreman said. “It’s a true phenomenon and sales show no sign of slowing down.”
In the United States, more than 500,000 fans performed searches for showtimes on the official www.thisisit-movie.comwebsite. Online buzz for Michael Jackson’s This Is It was 60 percent higher Sunday than for any other upcoming film.

In Japan, more than $1 million in ticket sales were recorded within the first 24 hours of their release, setting an advanced-sales record unmatched by any movie in history.

Staggering advance sales were reported in Australia, where tickets for Michael Jackson’s This Is It purchased through Village Cinemas exceeded the lifetime pre-sales of such blockbusters as Transformers, and X-Men Origins.

In Bangkok, Thailand, fans lined up at box office ticket counters throughout the city, and by the end of the first day, all tickets for the first showings across Bangkok were sold-out.

In Los Angeles, at Regal Cinema’s LA LIVE Stadium 14, fans began lining up on Thursday night for tickets to some of the city’s first public showings, and within hours of Sunday morning’s starting bell for advance pre-sales, the exhibitor reported selling out of all 3,000 of their seats for shows on Tuesday night October 27th.

Sell-outs at theaters in France are also being reported; thousands of fans lined up at The Grand Rex in Paris and quickly bought out the film’s first screening there. Record-setting sales also were recorded in Germany; hundreds of fans lined up outside one theater in Munich at midnight to await the opening of the box office. As one German exhibitor noted, “Something like this never happened before in Germany.”

Record sales and sell-outs are also being reported in Holland, Sweden, Belgium and New Zealand, among other countries.

Moviegoers worldwide can get information for the two-week limited engagement by visiting www.thisisit-movie.com. For fans wishing to discover the closest theater playing the film near their home in North America, please call (877) 488-4258. Michael Jackson’s This Is It will offer Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place beginning this summer in London’s O2 Arena. Chronicling the months from March through June, 2009, the film is produced with the full support of the Estate of Michael Jackson and drawn from more than one hundred hours of behind-the-scenes footage, featuring Jackson rehearsing a number of his songs for the show. Audiences will be given a privileged and private look at Jackson as he has never been seen before. In raw and candid detail, Michael Jackson’s This Is It captures the singer, dancer, filmmaker, architect, creative genius, and great artist at work as he creates and perfects his final show. Kenny Ortega, who was both Michael Jackson’s creative partner and the director of the stage show, is also directing the film, which is being produced by Randy Phillips, Kenny Ortega and Paul Gongaware. Executive producers are John Branca and John McClain. The film will be distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures Releasing. For more information about the film please visit www.thisisit-movie.com

Academy Award winner George Clooney stars in the title role of The American for director Anton Corbijn (Control). Focus Features holds worldwide rights to the suspense thriller, which begins production this week on location in Italy . Focus CEO James Schamus made the announcement today.

The screenplay by Rowan Joffe is adapted from Martin Booth’s novel A Very Private Gentleman, published in 2005. The film’s producers are This is that’s Anne Carey, who most recently produced Adventureland and The Savages; Smokehouse’s Grant Heslov, an Academy Award nominee as producer and co-writer of Good Night, and Good Luck, and producer/director of this fall’s The Men Who Stare at Goats; Smokehouse’s Mr. Clooney; Ann Wingate, who most recently produced Into the Storm, starring Emmy Award winner Brendan Gleeson; and Jill Green, executive producer of the long-running U.K. television series Foyle’s War. Enzo Sisti, co-producer of the upcoming When in Rome, is executive producer of The American.

Alone among assassins, Jack (played by Mr. Clooney) is a master craftsman. When a job in Sweden ends more harshly than expected for this American abroad, he vows to his contact Larry (Bruce Altman of this fall’s Peter and Vandy) that his next assignment will be his last. Jack reports to the Italian countryside, where he holes up in a small town and relishes being away from death for a spell. The assignment, as specified by a Belgian woman, Mathilde (Thekla Reuten of Focus’ award-winning In Bruges ), is in the offing as a weapon is constructed. Surprising himself, Jack seeks out the friendship of local priest Father Benedetto (Italian screen and stage veteran Paolo Bonacelli) and pursues romance with local woman Clara (Italian leading lady Violante Placido). But by stepping out of the shadows, Jack may be tempting fate.

Newmarket Films announced today that it has acquired U.S. rights to director Jon Amiel ‘ s CREATION, a film which focuses on Charles Darwin and his family as he struggles to finish his legendary book “On The Origin of Species,” which went on to become the foundation for evolutionary biology. The screenplay was written by John Collee, based on the biography “Annie ‘ s Box” which was penned by Darwin ‘ s great-great grandson Randal Keynes using personal letters and diaries of the Darwin family. The film was produced by Jeremy Thomas at Recorded Picture Company (The Last Emperor, Sexy Beast), with BBC Films and Ocean Pictures.

CREATION stars real-life couple Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) and Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly (Requiem for a Dream, A Beautiful Mind) as Darwin and wife. Newmarket ’s Chris Ball and Robert Fyvolent negotiated the deal for Newmarket , and HanWay Films CEO Tim Haslam negotiated on behalf of the producer. Newmarket plans to release the film in December.

In CREATION, Amiel (The Singing Detective, Entrapment) and Collee (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) bring to life a psychological love story that gives a unique and intimate perspective on Darwin, his love for his family and his deeply religious wife, and his struggle to find a balance between faith and science. The film co-stars Toby Jones (Frost/Nixon, Infamous) and Jeremy Northam ( Gosford Park , Amistad).

The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers, announced today that director Kathryn Bigelow, actors Natalie Portman and Stanley Tucci, and producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, will each be presented with a career Tribute at the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards™ on Monday November 30th in New York. IFP also announced it has moved the gala awards ceremony to Monday, November 30 at Cipriani Wall Street, from the previously announced date of Tuesday, December 1st.

Signaling the official kick-off to the film awards season, the Gotham Independent Film Awards™ is one of the leading awards for independent film. Anchoring the evening’s six competitive awards for Best Feature, Best Documentary, Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor, Best Ensemble Performance and Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You, are four Tributes to film community icons.

This year’s Tribute selection represents a range of individuals – all veterans well-versed in the journey between lower-budget independent films and large-scale studio releases. In addition, all of the honorees are involved with some of this year’s most critically acclaimed and/or highly anticipated films including: The Hurt Locker from Summit Entertainment (directed by Kathryn Bigelow) and Julie and Julia from Columbia Pictures (directed by Nora Ephron and featuring Stanley Tucci); and the upcoming Lionsgate release Brothers (directed by Jim Sheridan and featuring Natalie Portman), Paramount’s The Lovely Bones (directed by Peter Jackson featuring Stanley Tucci), and A Serious Man (directed by the Coen Brothers and produced by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner) and Pirate Radio (directed by Richard Curtis and produced by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner) both to be released by Focus Features.

Kathryn Bigelow exploded back on the scene this year with her tense Iraqi war drama The Hurt Locker starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty. The film which is currently in release has already garnered numerous accolades. Bigelow’s first film was the sexy and stylish Willem Dafoe starrer, The Loveless in 1982. But her career was elevated with Near Dark in 1985. The visually distinctive film caught the eye of the Museum of Modern Art which honored her with a career tribute at the time. She burst into mainstream in the classic action thriller Point Break, which starred Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. She followed with the critically acclaimed futuristic actioner Strange Days the big budget K-19 The Widowmaker with Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson and the more dramatic and personal The Weight of Water starring Sean Penn, all of which were praised for her technical expertise, intense and unique visuals, and unmatched ability to create suspense.

Academy Award® nominated actress Natalie Portman is best known for her versatile performances in Mike Nichols’ Closer, Zach Braff’s Garden State , the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and her breakout role in Luc Besson’s The Professional. Natalie’s latest work includes acting and directing in New York, I Love You, Jim Sheridan version of Brothers opposite Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal, and Don Roos’ Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, which she also executive produced. Portman recently completed production on David Gordon Green’s comedy Your Highness and will soon start filming Darren Aronsfsky’s Black Swan. Portman draws on her celebrity to shine the spotlight on the impact of microloans on those in developing countries. She works on behalf of FINCA International, and was named its Ambassador of Hope in 2004.