No matter what you might hear in the press, those in the film industry know that Michael Jackson’s This Is It has flat out failed to live up to all the hype. Sony Pictures had been lowering their internal box office projections all last week in preparation for any potential backlash that it would be a bomb. Although far from a box office bomb, This Is It was projected to make $35 million in the U.S. from last Wednesday to Sunday (yesterday). Instead, the film is coming in at $32.5 million for the five day weekend and only made $21.3 million Friday through Sunday. To put this in perspective, Miley Cyrus’ concert movie Best of Both Worlds did better with a $31.1 million three day weekend number. Yes Miley Cyrus beat out the King of Pop.

Sony will continue to hype the film up as a global success though and as we all expected (and as WoooHa predicted) they will be expanding the screenings beyond the “exclusive” two week period to offer everyone a chance to see the movie. No surprise there but everyone here in Hollywood knows it’s because Sony needs all the money the can out of this one.

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