Was Michael Jackson's Death A Good Career Move?

Apparently, Michael Jackson's movie ranks as a great treat for Jackson aficionados -- who turned out by the thousands in 18 countries at Wednesday's premieres of This Is It, the Sony Pictures docudrama based on rehearsal footage for the grand revival concert tour Jackson was planning for London when he died on June 25. Though it may hold little interest for everyone else -- box office numbers have fallen substantially short of the hype -- the film is likely to do well enough to make up for losses due to the canceled London concerts.

More importantly, it marks the launch of Michael Jackson's posthumous brand.

Since Jackson was alive for half of the year, he only had a few months to try to catch this year's fluke winner of Forbes' annual list of top-earning dead celebrities, Yves Saint Laurent (fueled by a one-time art auction), and took the No. 3 slot. But no matter how well the new film does, extensive soundtrack and licensing opportunities, unhindered by the spooky antics (and appetites) of a pesky live celebrity, are pointing Michael Jackson down Elvis Presley's well-marked path.

Concert promoter and film participant AEG Live has predicted that the film is on its way to raking in $250 million in its first five days alone, and Bloomberg projects that the movie and soundtrack eventually could garner $400 million worldwide. That figure actually makes the money trail behind the film more interesting than the movie itself.

Jackson was well-known to be drowning in debt, and the concert tour was aimed at bringing him closer to the black again. When he died, it looked as if AEG Live would lose out on tens of millions of dollars of revenue from the 50 cancelled concert dates.

But AEG – owned by conservative oil baron and rising media player Philip Anschutz – has parlayed Jackson’s untimely death into financial returns that arguably could rival what AEG would have gleaned from Jackson’s actual concerts. AEG sold the rehearsal footage for a reported $60 million to Sony and pocketed $36 million of that right away.

With Michael dead, crowds are likely to remember licensing-friendly “Thriller” and “Billie Jean” longer than upside-down-hanging babies, hyperbaric-oxygen chambers and Jesus Juice. Michael Jackson may turn out the ultimate example of deathwashing a troubled celebrity brand.