Jackson's "This Is It" Doc Grosses $200 Million Worldwide

After only two weeks in theaters, Michael Jackson's This Is It concert rehearsal documentary has crossed the $200 million threshold worldwide. As Rolling Stone previously reported, Sony purchased the rights to the concert footage for $60 million, and while the company just broke even on their investment in North America, domestically grossing $61 million, internationally This Is It has raked in more than $140 million, Reuters reports.

Read our opening night review of This Is It.

In Japan This Is It grossed $27 million, and the United Kingdom contributed $14 million to the foreign tally. According to BoxOfficeMojo, This Is It is now the 22nd most successful film worldwide in 2009. The film was initially slated to be a two-week theatrical engagement, but after the release of the This Is It DVD was pushed to early 2010, the documentary's run was extended by three weeks to early December.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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