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Michael Jackson's This Is It bounced back from a soft Saturday for a stronger Sunday up 18% to $8.3M and a weekend actual of $23.2M domestic. That's still underwhelming given all the pre-sales hype. But for the past 5 days, the companies behind the film have boasted nonstop to the media about how much money they have made now that the pic went over $101M worldwide. So, if both Sony and Anschutz Entertainment Group are taken at their word, then how about both companies stepping up to the plate and forking over that $6 million to reimburse L. A. taxpayers? The cash strapped City Of Los Angeles facing a $530 million budget deficit wound up stuck with the bill for the millions of dollars spent to police last summer's star-studded tribute to Michael Jackson held at AEG's Staples Center arena in downtown Los Angeles. An attempt to collect donations from Jackson fans to help cover the costs was later abandoned by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who at first supported the idea. The Police Department deployed 3,200 officers and other services after projecting that as many as 250,000 people would converge on downtown streets for the service. But only ticket holders and about 1,000 fans showed up. At first the LA City Council demanded that the Jackson concert promoter and Staples Center owner AEG Live cover all the costs, but Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa rejected that idea, claiming it was a world-class city's responsibility to provide police protection. But since then there's been a public backlash. For months now, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has tried to recover the $6M from AEG as the city struggles with a budget deficit. But AEG President/CEO Tim Leiweke keeps wanting to pay only $1.6M. The city has a one-year deadline to sue to recover its costs. When I mentioned over the weekend to a Sony bigwig that it might be a nice PR gesture for the studio and AEG to pick up the $6M tab, the exece claimed not to know what I was talking about. Puh-leeze.
If 'This Is It' Is Such A Success, Why Can't Sony & AEG Reimburse City Of L.A. For $6M Michael Jackson Tribute Cost?
By Nikki Finke | Category: Movies | Monday November 2, 2009 @ 10:20am PST
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Maybe I’m missing something, but why is it AEG’s fault that the City of Los Angeles vastly overestimated the crowd?
How about just repeal Prop 13 so the state has money to pay to protect it citizens and educate it’s children without begging the deceased.
Prop 13, allegedly to help senior citizens, is a sham that has millionaires living in Pacific Palisades mansions paying $1000 a year in properly tax based on the value of their home in the 1970s!! and it can never increase. And everyone here shrugs their shoulders wondering why there’s no money.
Do a fair tax assessment of a home’s current value and tax property owners accordingly instead of letting them basically skip paying property tax for the infrastructure and instead hire private armed security to patrol their own neighborhoods and pay the bill to send their kids to private school– in their minds exonerating them from contributing their fair share to support systems for civilization city wide and state wide.
I’m never disappointed by the way Californians try to fix symptoms never dealing with actual problems. (We have no property tax base–the very thing every other state uses for survival.)
The city has a duty to protect it’s citizenry, control crowds, control traffic–not at the event necessarily, but certainly city wide. Some days are busier than others.
This town survives on entertainment. An entertainment giant dies and the funeral is gonna be big.
C’mon for crying out loud. You think controlling traffic and crowds city wide is the responsibility of the deceased? Please wake up from your deep sleep.
Just the kind of thinking that got LA, and to a larger extent Ca. into the mess it’s in. More taxes, huh Zach. Control spending, unheard of, just charge more and more for everything. Prop 13 is not a sham as it does help seniors, I know my parents couldn’t keep the home they’ve been in since the 60’s if prop 13 were repealed. Swing and a miss on your panacea to cure the cities financial woes.
As far as controlling traffic and crowds city wide at this promoted event being the responsibility of the deceased, of course it isn’t. It IS however the respomsibility of those who are promoting the “star-studded” tribute/funeral, not the taxpayers of Los Angeles.
Yes, prop 13 protects senior citizens, but it also gives enormous ongoing tax breaks to long term commercial land owners (typically legal entities, not individuals). Sadly, it will never be overturned or overhauled to address the disparity, as voters always seem to focus on how 13 benefits them now (or might benefit them later when they buy a house), rather than focusing on the fundamental unfairness of the overall disparity among taxes paid paid by owners of equally valuable property. Any attempt to modify 13 (say to equalize commercial property taxes) will always be met with strong oppositional funding from commercial property owners who have benefited the most from prop 13’s favoring long term ownership over recent buyers.
To quote Stephen Colbert “Let’s Get AEG!”
Voluntarily paying fees like this would be a bad precedent. They already pay taxes. And Sony is hardly responsible for Michael Jackson’s death. This sort of thing is and should be covered by bright-line laws. If L.A. wants to bill people for public services, pass a law clearing delineating the circumstances, and let that law be subject to legal scrutiny and challenge.
Yet another example of the industry of scum that continues to metastasize around MJ. The US attorney should look into this. Our city dollars were pilfered for the circus at Staples, and then the benefits were reaped ACROSS STATE LINES with this docu… Sue? No. Put MFers in jail.
J.R. wrote “Our city dollars were pilfered for the circus at Staples, and then the benefits were reaped ACROSS STATE LINES with this docu…”
Although related, the MJ memorial event at Staples and the concert film now in theatres are separate events. In fact there is no reference whatsoever to the memorial event in the film.
Logically, the cost of providing police protection during the Jackson memorial should have been handled the way any other high profile event at the Staples Center would be handled.
It would be appropriate for the Jackson estate and Sony Records to at least partially reimburse the city for those police services since they reaped the benefits of a spike in CD sales at the time of the memorial. But to use the concert film’s grosses as a justification for paying when there was not even a reference to the memorial, much less footage, is illogical.
Thank you! But it will never happen, as long as Leiweke remains a power broker in LA politics (ching-ching). Wonder what City Council Candidate (and former Paramount exec) Christine Essel has to say on the matter.
I can’t understand why you think that “This is it” isn’t a hit.
100 million in five days for a documentary?
And it will make at least three times its budget.
Sorry, Nikki, but you are wrong.
“This is It” is a big hit and they will make a lot of money with this movie (don’t forget the DVD sales!).
Why were city tax-payer $$$$$ even considered to start with for the disgusting spectacle? A pickled-brained corpse who did nothing for the city of LA, other than perpetuate stalkerism, papparrazzi, and -more than likely- take under age children to bed.
Why as a tax payer should I fund the corpse-glorification of a immature freak who I wouldn’t ever buy a .99 cent music track from?
have you ever done biz with Leiweke?
promises the world then vanishes.
Here here!!!
City should have negoitated this at the time they were holding the cards and created a “loan” to AEG and Michael Jackson esate for the purposes of providing city servies for a private at a private facility, paid back at a later date. Not difficult to do and at the time would have had the position to do so. Now the city is crying foul.
You know what Nikki I agree with you and wish some of you heavy hitters reading this would send notes in to AEG. I think the city f–ed up too on this one BUT Los Angeles really can’t afford what amounted to basically special treatment to AEG.
Now, AEG does do a lot for the city of Los Angles – a lot people. BUT, they really need to step up on this one. It’s been bothering me since the summer.
It’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion, you can’t help but stare.
Chief Bratton suggested that if LA wants to be a considered a world-class city, that these kinds of expenses are part of the deal. When the Oscars roll around, is anyone going to ask the Academy to foot the bill for the added security it requires? We should be thankful we live in a city of this caliber and just accept that there will occasionally be things like the MJ tribute that will cost the city a little more money.
No of course if the Academy Awards or other REGULAR events come up, the city should supervise with police, BUT, the Michael Jackson spectacle – honestly, did NOT need to occur. Plus, we are in a recession, people need to be realistic. The city is drowning in debt. This was not a proper use of funds. OF COURSE we can have major events in LA, but seriously ask yourself… did we really need this one? Did we? We didn’t.
The L.A.P.D. bought into the media hype hook, line and sinker on this one. It’s nobody’s fault but theirs that they didn’t project the crowd size based on what goes on in the real world. We should be calling for the heads of our elected officials, not demanding reparations from corporations.
It would be nice if Sony who will make a lot of money on this movie gives something back to the L.A.P.D.
The studio heads donate to all the horrid politicans who have
destroyed CA. at least they could donate to a good cause with
the $$$ they made on this Movie.
couldn’t agree more. just even small donations from both AEG AND SONY AND the Jackson family to the City of Los Angeles would make it right somehow. it just still seems wrong. what if we had a gigantic funeral for every major celebrity who died in Los Angeles????