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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Jul 9, 2021 4:38:26 GMT
I don't agree that any future MJ project is spoiled because of LN. I was talking about this specific project. A lot of fans won't support someone who expressed she believes MJ was guilty but writes his life story for a musical. It's awkward. If she believes he's guilty she should have resigned. If you look at MJ's sales, streams, the Vegas show etc there is no reason for a general doom and gloom and say that everything forever is spoiled now. If anything MJ's legacy survived LN with hardly a scratch. His streams, radio plays dropped only for like a month after LN, then they got back to normal and even surpassed pre-LN numbers. It's a current news that in the first half year of 2021 Thriller sold 100,000 copies in the US. Pre-LN, I remember Thriller typically sold about 100,000 over a year, not half a year like now. Now, beyond Nottage, a snobby, typically white upper middle class liberal culture like Broadway perhaps isn't the best environment for an MJ musical in this era where the woke like nothing more than to virtue signal, but I really don't think the conclusion we draw from it should be that everything having to do with MJ is forever spoiled now. This is probably the narrative the media will push if the Broadway musical flops, but there's nothing supporting the claim that it has to do with more than just this specific project. ONE in Vegas has been doing fine before it was locked down due to Covid-19. And now it's one of the first shows Cirque decided to bring back. It is true that his streams and other things haven't suffered too much... I'm just worried about potential NEW projects getting messed up or never happening because of this. Had LN never happened, Nottage would never have taken the stance that she did when LN came out. But it came out, and we know she thinks Michael is guilty, so that sours this musical quite a bit even if it doesn't go into the allegations. It just really sucks that she still got to be involved with this despite her beliefs. Like, how does that make the Estate and Michael look? here's some news updates it takes place in the Dangerous Tour era, but it tells his story from the beginning. there's 25 songs are in the show no one knows what they are yet. also no ones know if the show will have acts or not.
I thought the whole thing was re-written so it wouldn't take place anywhere near the Dangerous Era? Or did I misread something somewhere? from what i'm hearing it's taking place during the dangerous tour era. this probably was change and i didn't know about it or it probably was change but they keeping the first story. i would like them to not to do the dangerous era at all. it really save less drama etc. i wouldn't call this an biopic. just telling half of michael's career.
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Jul 9, 2021 4:59:35 GMT
Update: frost isn't the only one playing Michael. there's others who gonna play him. i'm not sure what era frost is playing. but he does look alot like young Michael from the off the wall era. but i doubt he's playing that era because someone else is. but in my opinion he's could be young Michael.
i'm guessing frost playing thriller era mike. it's not official but that's what i'm guessing.
so i wonder who gonna play mike with vitiligo? painting someone face would be offensive and leaving his disease out would be also.
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Jul 9, 2021 5:19:23 GMT
i wish frost the best. everyone seems to be excited and happy for him and the musical so i'm not gonna be one of those people who down the show until it's starts.
but frost gonna have to really get on his game because he doing this in front of thousand of people. he seems to like Michael very much so i doubt the young man think Michael is guilty.
i hope if anybody ask him he says he's innocent. the boy is young and a new artist so i'm gonna cut him some slack but i'm worry about him and this musical because it put Michael legacy on the line again....
anyway best wishes frost. ššš
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Jul 16, 2021 3:36:01 GMT
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Jul 30, 2021 10:52:47 GMT
Advance Sales for Michael Jackson Broadway Musical āMJā Suffering Even Though King of Popās Record Sales are Soaring MJ: The Michael Jackson Musicalā is suffering at the box office. Advance sales are very poor so far because tourists are restricted from traveling to New York. Most travelers from European countries, Britain, and many other countries are banned from entering the US right now depending on vaccinations, etc. The result is all Broadway shows are suffering a lack of advanced sales. āMJā isnāt alone, but the news isnāt good. Aside from a couple of well sold Saturday nights in December, the shows are largely empty so far. On Ticketmaster.com, the seat maps are seas of blue dots waiting for purchase. A website called StacyKnows.com just sent out a message saying they have a chunk of tickets available for December 9th, for $140. The first preview, on December 6th, still has a number of seats for sale. Itās surprising, too, because Michael Jackson is on target to sell almost a million albums this year, half of which are copies of āThriller.ā His popularity is not an issue. But the tourism restrictions, the prices, and fear of sitting in theaters is clearly inhibiting audiences from making plans. Weāll look at more shows later this week. www.showbiz411.com/2021/07/26/advance-sales-for-michael-jackson-broadway-musical-mj-suffering-even-though-king-of-pops-record-sales-are-soaring
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Jul 30, 2021 11:04:13 GMT
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Post by NatureCriminal7896 on Jul 30, 2021 11:26:00 GMT
I agree with mostly Rickey said here.
We need to talk about Michael Jackson's estate...
Why does it exist?
2020 was a disappointment for michael jackson's fan. We had no celebration of 25 years of HIStory āaccording to The Estate, they had plans to celebrate the album with "appropriate audiovisual elements" and "stillhave plans to do" ā but could not due to Covid-19...
MJ The Musical intends to bring Michael back to show business, although I agree it's not a bad idea but a key question remains: 90% of Michael Jackson's 'hardcore' fans won't get a glimpse of it.
For an American or Canadian fan, a trip to New York City is quite possible. For fans from other places like Europe, Asia, South America and Africa, this is much less likely. Not to mention that the writers behind the musical made negative statements about Michael Jackson, making many fans uncomfortable supporting this musical.
John Branca, the co-executor of The Estate, confirmed that a michael jackson biopic is in production. Fans are immensely concerned; who can portray Michael Jackson with precision and respect?
How can Michael Jackson's life be divided into 2ā3 hours?
There is no doubt that there are many fans who oppose this more than in favor. However, the lack of major releases by Michael Jackson's Estate is not really my focus.
What REALLY bothers me is the lack of communication of the Estate with the fans of Michael Jackson. The fans have no direct communication with The Estate.
nothing. zero!
Occasionally, they seem to notice chat topics on social media, but they never respond to fans and actually tell fans not to send emails (at least to John White directly).
Remastered Videos
This is the number one fan request. The Estate said that the remastering of some of MJ's short films is not possible due to the lack of master tapes. Even so, they have already released a high-definition version of Thriller in theaters. Unfortunately, in just two weeks in theaters in the United States ā going unnoticed by everyone.
In other words, 99% of fans never got a chance to see this updated version of Thriller,plus some low-quality clips and photos by those who were lucky enough to see it.
Smooth Criminal went viral almost a year ago, when casual fans got the Blu-ray version of the documentaries Bad 25 and Off The Wall, we saw that The Estate is able to remaster high-quality footage not only of its music videos, but also of its tours.
Collectibles on vinyl
In 2021, Michael Jackson's Thriller is close to the 500,000-copy mark sold 'only' in the United States. Most of these sales come from vinyl records. The collection of vinyls has resurfaced in recent years, and the Estate seems to have realized i$$o. For Diamond Celebration,they released all of Jackson's solo discography on vinyl. The quality of these vinyls seemed to be inferior to what it should, but other than that, it was a great idea on their part.
For the 10th anniversary of This Is It the main focus was a vinyl collection in a luxury box. For Scream (2017), they released a vinyl that glows in the dark and why not more?
They could re-release thriller singles. For example, since Thriller is selling so well, why not a limited edition billie jean? Perhaps a good glossy matte finish to the cover itself in a limited print run at the push of a button, it would run out.
Now if their goal is to catch new fans I'm sorry, but that won't happen with the release of vinyls...
streaming
Michael Jackson fans were annoyed when the Ultimate Collection left Spotify. But why is that? Although Jackson's demos such as We've Had Enough, On The Line are known to the entire fan community, Michael Jackson's younger fans are left somewhat oblivious to extended versions of songs like Bad, Another Part of Me, Smooth Criminal,etc.
What is preventing The Estate from making the Ultimate Collection available?
But that's not all.
Bad 25 was perhaps the biggest throw since michael jackson's passing.
Although the main boxset is still available, it's hard to understand why the most important release of this package, the show Live at Wembley, remains unavailable in streaming.
Streaming may be the key to releases but, they refuse to release demos because they would be "commercially unsuccessful".
I strongly disagree with his methods, as it usually doesn't involve even the people Michael worked with on these songs. The album Xscape, for example, was produced by Timbaland.
Timbaland is an amazing artist and producer, but has never worked with Michael Jackson.
Either way, The Estate could consider launching certain streaming projects. "Live at Yokohama" and launching in high quality, but decided not to launch due to its setlist. It has been circulating as bootlegs for years, but what's stopping The Estate from remastering it for streaming? This is a project that costs virtually nothing to produce.
It is also significant that fans can have full access to alternate versions and demos. If the goal of Jackson's Estate is to extend Jackson's legacy, as they claim, surely they should recognize the importance of keeping his art on display.
Super Deluxe Versions
Ironically, John Branca took responsibility for making two attacks on Prince's Estate with regard to the administration. The irony lies in the fact that Michael Jackson's Estate routinely ignores the concerns, desires and thoughts of fans, while Prince's throws an avalanche of materials.
The release of the boxset, Sign O 'The Times created great expectation in prince's fan community. In Michael Jackson's fan community, it was a brutal reminder of how hungry MJ fans are for similar quality content.
Prince's Estate actively produces content that fans want and also recognizes and fixes bugs. They even provide a section of their store dedicated to fan requests.
Michael's Estate showed glimpses of fan releases. Although no one in their right mind wanted a 10-year celebration of This Is It (which contributed to Michael's death), the content placed in the box was (considering all things) very good.
Bad 25 is arguably your best project; a remastering of the album, new demos, Live at Wembley on DVD and CD, a documentary, single re-release, partnership with Pepsi and some dull remixes. The rest of the content was good enough that the abominable and embarrassing remixes could be ignored. It was a campaign that made a fan like me, who missed that time, feel like he was experiencing it all over again. In comparison, THE HIStory 25 saw only clothes with disastrous collages; and many fans are still waiting for their products to arrive...
None of this seemed well thought out.
About the future?
2021 is a great year for Michael Jackson. The pair of accusers have been destroyed in court, and the public contempt generated as a result of 2019 is returning in their favor. But not only that, it's the year of Michael's 50th birthday as a solo artist. It is also the 30th and 20th anniversary of the albums "Dangerous" and "Invincible"respectively. Once again, the stars are aligning so that the Estate releases great content. And it doesn't even have to be something huge. A remastering of the album(s), a documentary of "making-of", demos, remastering of performances and appearances of the time, a book with rare photos, limited edition of singles, etc. can make a big impact.
The lack of celebration for History 25 was a big mistake. The lack of recognition for Michael Jackson's 50th birthday would be even worse.
At this point, why is michael jackson's estate?
ā by Rickey Alexander II
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Post by HIStoric on Jul 30, 2021 12:53:16 GMT
Remastered Videos This is the number one fan request. The Estate said that the remastering of some of MJ's short films is not possible due to the lack of master tapes. Even so, they have already released a high-definition version of Thriller in theaters. Unfortunately, in just two weeks in theaters in the United States ā going unnoticed by everyone. In other words, 99% of fans never got a chance to see this updated version of Thriller,plus some low-quality clips and photos by those who were lucky enough to see it. Smooth Criminal went viral almost a year ago, when casual fans got the Blu-ray version of the documentaries Bad 25 and Off The Wall, we saw that The Estate is able to remaster high-quality footage not only of its music videos, but also of its tours. Man those phone-recorded clips of Thriller remastered looked and sounded great (for phone quality). Hearing that song on a proper surround sound system of a theatre, ugh. So, so good. Just replace the actual video on YouTube! Hundreds of artists have done it now.
But here's the interesting thing with Bad 25, all the 'new' behind the scenes footage and outtakes are presented in high definition and look wonderful, but usually when they show footage from the actual music videos, it's back to standard definition. I've always wondered why that is. I can theorise a reason or two, but even then...
Although the main boxset is still available, it's hard to understand why the most important release of this package, the show Live at Wembley, remains unavailable in streaming. Either way, The Estate could consider launching certain streaming projects. "Live at Yokohama" and launching in high quality, but decided not to launch due to its setlist. It has been circulating as bootlegs for years, but what's stopping The Estate from remastering it for streaming? This is a project that costs virtually nothing to produce. Technically it's available on Apple Music as part of the Indispensable Collection - music.apple.com/us/album/the-indispensable-collection/655260476 but yes, it absolutely should be available on Spotify and the rest. I'd love to see a show or two available from each tour - enough to give a variety but not enough to overfill his catalogue.
Honestly I'm glad they finally released a live album but it's irritating they resorted to limiting it to one disc. Why cheap out? I'd happy pay some bucks more for another disc y'know! When they re-release this at some point, it's really essential they release the whole show in all it's glory. With streaming being the main method of music listening today, and there being no time limit for streaming, there's no excuse except copping out financially.
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Post by respect77 on Jul 30, 2021 15:53:09 GMT
How come every last one hit wonder's videos are possible to remaster, but MJ's aren't? I'm not buying any of this, I'm sorry. It sounds like another lazy excuse not to do anything, like when they excused not releasing demos by claiming MJ never did that in his life either (which is simply not true as we know).
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Post by WildStyle on Jul 30, 2021 17:06:00 GMT
Remastered Videos This is the number one fan request. The Estate said that the remastering of some of MJ's short films is not possible due to the lack of master tapes. Even so, they have already released a high-definition version of Thriller in theaters. Unfortunately, in just two weeks in theaters in the United States ā going unnoticed by everyone. In other words, 99% of fans never got a chance to see this updated version of Thriller,plus some low-quality clips and photos by those who were lucky enough to see it. Smooth Criminal went viral almost a year ago, when casual fans got the Blu-ray version of the documentaries Bad 25 and Off The Wall, we saw that The Estate is able to remaster high-quality footage not only of its music videos, but also of its tours. Man those phone-recorded clips of Thriller remastered looked and sounded great (for phone quality). Hearing that song on a proper surround sound system of a theatre, ugh. So, so good. Just replace the actual video on YouTube! Hundreds of artists have done it now.
But here's the interesting thing with Bad 25, all the 'new' behind the scenes footage and outtakes are presented in high definition and look wonderful, but usually when they show footage from the actual music videos, it's back to standard definition. I've always wondered why that is. I can theorise a reason or two, but even then... The reason for this is actually pretty straight forward. Michael's videos (after Billie Jean) were shot on film, but they were edited on video tape. So they have access to all the raw unedited footage on film reels and that is what you are seeing on Bad25.
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Post by amaya on Jul 30, 2021 22:27:24 GMT
How come every last one hit wonder's videos are possible to remaster, but MJ's aren't? I'm not buying any of this, I'm sorry. It sounds like another lazy excuse not to do anything, like when they excused not releasing demos by claiming MJ never did that in his life either (which is simply not true as we know). If it's true that the master tapes aren't there, where are they? That's pretty alarming that they can't access them. Best case scenario they're in a storage unit somewhere that they haven't checked yet, or worst case scenario it was destroyed by a hateful person due to the allegations. And if the worst case scenario ends up being the truth then man... that would be a tragedy.
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Post by HIStoric on Jul 30, 2021 22:31:57 GMT
The reason for this is actually pretty straight forward. Michael's videos (after Billie Jean) were shot on film, but they were edited on video tape. So they have access to all the raw unedited footage on film reels and that is what you are seeing on Bad25. Oh yes, Iām aware of that (Iāve written some very long posts about it heh). I realise I didnāt fully post what I was thinking in my head, sorry. In my head I was thinking for the videos that we already had available in high definition in one form or another - so all those featured in Moonwalker essentially. And I could theorise a reason or two for why those ones were never shown but those reasons werenāt really enough in my mind to justify anything. The first being that surely when digging up all that extra unedited footage they would have come across the actual takes used in the final versions, so why not use that in place? My second theoretical reason is more detailed and likely more flawed. For this, consider the actual music videos and the film Moonwalker as separate products. Iāve noticed on any Estate product that shows those Bad videos, itās always from the SD masters that they have and never taken from the high definition version of it. Every HD version of those Bad videos that we have is solely from the film print of Moonwalker that Warner Brothers rescanned and did up for the 2010 Blu-ray. Iāve also noticed (and just revisited past archives of their online MJ store to double check + looked at photos of the MJ One boutique store) that theyāve always sold every MJ DVD there was - This Is It, HIStory, Number Ones, Dangerous Short Films, The One, Vision, Live In Bucharestā¦ but Iāve never seen them selling Moonwalker, nor did they ever promote the various re-releases after MJs death on social media. So thatās interesting, that they basically seem to leave it to Warner Brothers. This weird separation has me wondering if Warner Brothers owning the international distribution rights to the film has anything to do with the Estate not using the actual HD versions from Moonwalker. Even if actual copyright for the film is owned by MJJ Productions/Ultimate Productions, with WB owning distribution rights, would they need sign off from WB to distribute any of that footage used from the actual film of Moonwalker? Or at least that new restoration Warner Brothers did for the Blu-ray? Now I canāt see why WB wouldnāt allow it, but theyād want money and I wonder if the Estate thinks itās financially better just to use the actual music videos that they and Sony already have distribution rights to, and those only exist in standard definition. Again, I donāt know how well that holds up. Iām just theorising. If they (for whatever reason) showed footage from Scream in Bad 25 as a random example, and it was in standard definition, I wouldnāt blink an eye. But I do for these Bad films if they exist in high definition form from the film print of Moonwalker. Anyways, Iām rambling š
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Post by HIStoric on Jul 30, 2021 23:03:21 GMT
How come every last one hit wonder's videos are possible to remaster, but MJ's aren't? I'm not buying any of this, I'm sorry. It sounds like another lazy excuse not to do anything, like when they excused not releasing demos by claiming MJ never did that in his life either (which is simply not true as we know). If it's true that the master tapes aren't there, where are they? That's pretty alarming that they can't access them. Best case scenario they're in a storage unit somewhere that they haven't checked yet, or worst case scenario it was destroyed by a hateful person due to the allegations. And if the worst case scenario ends up being the truth then man... that would be a tragedy. They do have the mastertapes but like Wildstyle said above, they were shot on film and then edited on tape. So the mastertapes (aka the āfinal versionā) for his music videos are in standard definition. It was cheaper to edit that way, and most of these films were only being shown on MTV, so standard definition tape was totally sufficient for their destination. It was pretty standard practise at the time. Whether they still have access to the original, raw unedited film reels for all the music videos that would allow us to see it in high definition is another story unfortunately. Thatās what they donāt know they have access to anymore. These other artists Respect was referring to either had a master version of their music video as a film print (unlikely but not impossible), or for those where the master version was tape, they wouldāve dug up the film reels, rescanned, put it back together and restored it to make a new master of it. To be fair, Michaels videos were of greater quantity, generally more complicated (especially as CGI got involved) and therefore more expensive, but we really shouldāve seen something by now, even if just a few music videos. I mean, Thriller was all nicely restored for a theatrical release 4 years ago. Whereās that, yāknow?
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Post by SmoothGangsta on Jul 31, 2021 0:11:16 GMT
I really don't think they've bothered to look for a lot of this stuff. Their statements that basically amount to "we'll do it at some point but it costs money and we don't have all the stuff right now" are rather sad.
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Post by respect77 on Jul 31, 2021 3:33:17 GMT
If it's true that the master tapes aren't there, where are they? That's pretty alarming that they can't access them. Best case scenario they're in a storage unit somewhere that they haven't checked yet, or worst case scenario it was destroyed by a hateful person due to the allegations. And if the worst case scenario ends up being the truth then man... that would be a tragedy. They do have the mastertapes but like Wildstyle said above, they were shot on film and then edited on tape. So the mastertapes (aka the āfinal versionā) for his music videos are in standard definition.Ā It was cheaper to edit that way, and most of these films were only being shown on MTV, so standard definition tape was totally sufficient for their destination. It was pretty standard practise at the time. Whether they still have access to the original, raw unedited film reels for all the music videos that would allow us to see it in high definition is another story unfortunately. Thatās what they donāt know they have access to anymore. These other artists Respect was referring to either had a master version of their music video as a film print (unlikely but not impossible), or for those where the master version was tape, they wouldāve dug up the film reels, rescanned, put it back together and restored it to make a new master of it. To be fair, Michaels videos were of greater quantity, generally more complicated (especially as CGI got involved) and therefore more expensive, but we really shouldāve seenĀ something by now, even if just a few music videos. I mean, Thriller was all nicely restored for a theatrical release 4 years ago. Whereās that, yāknow? So basically the fact that MJ treated his videos high quality products and shot them on film ended up being a disadvantage? How sadly ironic. But to be honest, I doubt these lazy excuses by the Estate. Because we have seen them make lazy excuses about other things as well (eg. "MJ wouldn't want unfinished tracks to be released" etc).
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