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And Finally Artist News
Michael Jackson’s Thriller video coming back from the dead… in 3D!
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 30 September 2014
Director John Landis is working on a 3D version of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ video. No, don’t worry, he’s not planning to dig the late singer up and make it anew (though that would kind of work, I guess). It’ll probably just be one of those things where a 2D film is retroactively converted into 3D and it doesn’t really work and then everyone is disappointed. Hurrah!
Work on squeezing a bit more money out of Jacko and his fourteen minute mini zombie movie has apparently been in the works for some time, but can now forge ahead officially after Landis settled a long-running lawsuit with the Jackson estate (and initially the singer himself, which tells you how long it went on for) over unpaid royalties.
Landis told New York Daily News: “That lawsuit went on for so many years, [but] we settled and they paid me finally. And so, actually there is something happening with ‘Thriller’. It is going to reappear in a highly polished and three-dimensional way that is very exciting on the big screen”.
As previously reported, Landis claimed in 2009 that he was due 50% of royalties generated by the ‘Thriller’ video, but had not received anything in a number of years, leaving him owed as much as $1 million. In 2012, one of the actors in the video, Ola Ray, also settled a similar lawsuit over royalties she said she was due.
Since Jackson’s death, there have been a number of ideas floated for updating ‘Thriller’ – one being a feature-length film directed by Jackson collaborator Kenny Ortega. A source also claimed to NYDN that the Estate is considering a video game and a ‘dance experience’, amongst other possibilities.
