Michael Jackson movie to screen in China, gets one of last foreign film import slots

September 30th, 2009 Fox invests in 1st Chinese film, a romantic comedyHONG KONG — Fox Filmed Entertainment says it has invested in its first Chinese film, becoming the latest Hollywood studio to enter the booming mainland movie market. The Chinese-language romantic comedy "Hot Summer Days" will be a co-production between Fox International Productions, China's Huayi Brothers Media Corp.

September 30th, 2009 Spain selects post-Pinochet film for OscarsMADRID — The Spanish Cinema Academy on Tuesday selected a film set in Chile after the Pinochet dictatorship as the country's nomination to compete for the Oscar for best foreign language film. "El Baile de la Victoria" (Dance of Victory) was directed by Fernando Trueba, who won the Oscar for best foreign language film with "Belle Epoque" in 1993.

September 25th, 2009 Actor VINCE VAUGHN refrains from greeting fans in their native language whenever he travels to non-English speaking countries, because he never understands their responses. The Wedding Crashers star admits he no longer goes out of his way to say hello to movie fans whenever he travels to countries like China, because he is always embarrassed when locals answer back using more complicated vocabulary.

September 23rd, 2009 LONDON - The film showing Michael Jackson rehearsing for his comeback tour is set to have at least 15 simultaneous premieres around the globe. The 'This Is It' movie depicts the late King of Pop practising for his 50-show run at the O2 Arena in London.

August 21st, 2009 MICHAEL JACKSON is heading to the big screen sooner than expected - movie bosses are pushing the release date of the KING OF POP movie up by two days. The pop superstar was due to kickstart a 50-date residency in London as part of his This Is It residency in July (09), but he died on 25 June (09), just weeks before he was scheduled to make his live comeback.

August 10th, 2009 Judge approves Michael Jackson filmLOS ANGELES —Audiences will get to see the King of Pop perform one more time after a judge approved a major movie deal. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff approved a deal between Michael Jackson's estate, concert promoter AEG Live and Columbia Pictures on Monday.

July 13th, 2009 Michael Jackson fans gather at London's O2 arenaLONDON — Hundreds of Michael Jackson fans gathered outside London's O2 arena to pay tribute to the star on what would have been the evening of his first concert. The fans brought candles and flowers to lay outside the 23,000 seat arena Monday, where Jackson was due to begin his run of 50 concerts.

July 8th, 2009 Sales of Michael Jackson albums soared last weekNEW YORK — Nielsen SoundScan says 800,000 copies of Michael Jackson albums were bought in the U.S. last week — nearly double his sales from the previous week.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Two Chinese writers worked continuously for 48 hours to produce an "instant biography" of late King of Pop Michael Jackson. The 130,000-word book, titled 'Moonwalk in Paradise', has been written by Jiang Xiaoyu and Xing Han, and published by Chinese publishing house Xiandai.

July 4th, 2009 LONDON - 'Led Zeppelin' have apparently been approached to alternate shows with Abba, and fill in for the 50-show run previously planned for Michael Jackson at London's O2 arena. AEG Live, promoters for the late King of Pop's slated comeback tour, were said to be trying hard to woo both the bands to reform.

July 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Michael Jackson never recovered from the child molestation charges that surfaced against him in 1993, particularly from the invasive police search that authorities put him through. According to John Randy Taraborrelli who had known Jackson for 40 years, Jackson was extremely self-conscious about his body due to all the scars he had from surgeries and was humiliated when police forced him to submit to a nude examination, reports the China Daily.

July 2nd, 2009 LONDON - Pop legends ABBA have apparently been approached to fill in for the 50-show run previously planned for Michael Jackson at London's O2 arena. AEG Live, the promoters for the King of Pop's slated comeback tour, are said to be trying hard to woo the renowned band out of retirement.

June 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Theatre impresario Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has revealed that Michael Jackson wanted to star in the movie version of the hit musical 'Phantom Of The Opera'. After watching the show, which debuted in 1988, numerous times the King of Pop discussed seriously with Lloyd about starring as 'The Phantom' in a big screen adaptation of the hit musical.

June 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Janet Jackson is "devastated" by the sudden death of brother Michael, who died at the age of 50 on Thursday. "Janet Jackson is grief-stricken and devastated at the sudden loss of her brother," her manager Kenneth Crear said in a statement to Access Hollywood.

May 4th, 2009 Beijing lashes back at US jab on media freedomsBEIJING — China's Foreign Ministry on Monday rejected accusations by President Barack Obama that China is among nations that regularly harass and detain journalists. In his May 1 statement marking World Press Freedom Day, Obama cited the imprisonment of reporter Shi Tao and human rights blogger Hu Jia as "emblematic examples" on how China and other nations restrict press freedoms.