Michael-JacksonsThough Michael Jackson may have passed on, his ability to entertain and astound certainly has not.

Following on the heels of Tuesday night’s $2.2 million haul at a series of midnight showings, “This Is It” took in another $7.4 million in its first full day of release and another $12.7 million overseas. According to mtvnews.com, overall the film tallied a worldwide total of $20.1 million, a jaw-dropping amount for a midweek release, specifically a documentary.

According to distributor Sony, Wednesday’s total is the best daily gross for a film on a Wednesday in October. Placing nearly $1.5 million ahead of last weekend’s box-office champ “Paranormal Activity,” the movie about the King of Pop now seems poised to reign supreme at movie theaters nationwide on Halloween weekend. It is setting its sights on the all-time champ “Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert,” which tops the list with $65.3 million.

The result of a massive bidding war that ensued in the weeks after MJ’s June 25 death, ”This Is It” was collected from more than 100 hours of the pop singer’s rehearsal for a sold-out 50-date comeback tour in London. Filmed at the Forum and the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Sony paid $60 million for the rights to the footage, which was then compiled by Jackson collaborator and “High School Musical” director Kenny Ortega. It is rumored that Ortega’s dediation to “This Is It” is one of the main reasons for his decision to leave the set of the upcoming film, “Footloose.”






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