The eight remaining Jackson kids vary a lot in fame and talent, so it’s tough to get them all together for a series of gigs without running into complaints about different pay scales, air time, and perks. Janet, the only other Jackson who seems to have a solid career as a solo artist, will reportedly make $4 million if she does the tour. Compare that to Rebbie, who’s stuck with a comparatively paltry $250,000.

Will money and fame tear this family apart, or can they keep it together to pull off this tour? The Daily Beast has more:

The latest point of contention, these associates say, is a 10-city U.S. “Jackson Family Reunion Tour” involving all of Michael’s siblings. The Daily Beast has obtained a proposal from New Jersey-based AllGood Entertainment, a concert promoter that claimed it had a similar concert plan in place in June when it sued Michael for allegedly breaching that agreement, and my sources confirm that the Jackson family is seriously considering this new offer. The guaranteed collective payday for the clan: more than $12 million, including a $1 million advance upon acceptance. And it indicates that this new grouping—call it the Jackson 8—will have Janet fronting in her big brother’s place.

The biggest holdup with a concert tour, or other deals, are sibling rivalries, as each brother and sister weighs individual deals, while family matriarch Katherine Jackson preaches for a long-term family-size agreement which will provide security for everyone. The details of the proposed pay split among the family members illuminates both the opportunities for the surviving Jacksons following their famous brother’s death and their competing—and not equal—prospects.

The tour pay scale in the proposal is specifically broken out as follows:

Janet Jackson — $4 million
Jermaine Jackson — $1.5 million
Jackie Jackson — $1.5 million
Randy Jackson — $1.5 million
Marlon Jackson — $1.5 million
Tito Jackson — $1.5 million
La Toya Jackson — $500,000
Rebbie Jackson — $250,000

The company paid a whopping $60 million for rights to over 100 hours of footage, which they will compile into a feature-length film. Columbia finally came to an agreement with Jackson reps and AEG Live following weeks of negotiations. We can’t wait to see it!

MTV reports the details:

Columbia Pictures has solidified its plans to bring a Michael Jackson film — complete with footage of his final rehearsals in preparation for a comeback tour — to theaters in the fall, according to The Associated Press.

After weeks of negotiations, Columbia, which is owned by Sony, agreed to pay $60 million for rights to the project. The agreement was reached Friday between Columbia, concert promoter AEG Live, Jackson’s representatives and others.

All that remains is for a Los Angeles judge to approve the deal at a Monday hearing, when Jackson’s mother, Katherine, will have an opportunity to raise any objections.

The deal includes the rights to more than 100 hours of rehearsal footage, clips that were intended to be used during Jackson’s comeback concerts at London’s O2 arena, as well as merchandising, special DVD editions and product tie-ins. Among the prohibited tie-ins are products related to alcohol, tobacco, gambling and pharmaceuticals, along with personal-hygiene products and firearms. Jackson’s company would receive 90 percent of the movie’s profits, and AEG would receive the rest.

UPI has more:

Artist Andy Warhol’s 1984 portrait of the late pop star Michael Jackson is going on display at London’s O2 arena before it is sold at auction in New York.The rendering will be exhibited at the venue where Jackson had been scheduled to start a series of concerts this month. Jackson died June 25 at the age of 50. He had been practicing for the O2 concert series in the weeks leading up to his death, which is still under investigation.

Warhol died in 1987 after undergoing gall bladder surgery. He was 58.

“This Andy Warhol portrait brings together the uncontested King of Pop Art with the uncontested King of Pop,” Janet Lehr, the private collector’s representative told the BBC. “The portrait was painted at the height of their careers and is a celebration of two of the great talents in global cultural history.”

Apparently, the King of Pop was undergoing considerable strain from his life under the spotlight as well as the grueling training for his planned 50-venue concert tour. According to the paper’s source, Jackson exhibited wild mood swings and candidly admitted an addiction to painkillers. The news we get about Jackson’s health in the months before his death just get grimmer and grimmer.

According to a psychiatrist’s report quoted by The Sun newspaper, the singer’s behaviour was increasingly erratic, with his mood swinging from an “almost manic” excitement about the tour to silence and staring into space.

A source close to the investigation into his death reportedly told the paper that Jackson was “clearly not mentally or physically equipped to cope” with the 50-night performance schedule at the O2 Arena.

“Michael was always adamant the show must go on – to the point where he was obsessed with the idea he would be ‘killed’ if he couldn’t go on stage,” The Sun quoted the source as saying.

“He had been backed into a corner and was falling apart under the strain.”

(Telegraph)

But the media giant that’s made the biggest bet is Sony Pictures, which reportedly has shelled out close to $60 million for the rights to 80 or so hours of rehearsal footage from the singer’s “This Is It” tour concert. The footage is being edited into a concert film, also tentatively titled “This Is It,” which will hit theaters on Oct. 30. No one from Sony is talking, since the final details of the deal are still in negotiation. But insiders say the lion’s share of the profits from the film will go to Jackson’s estate.

Sony gets its cut from the studio’s distribution fee on the film, though the studio also has to foot the bill for the marketing costs of the release. On the other hand, Sony has worldwide rights for the film, which extend through the movie’s ancillary life, from its theatrical release into what are normally lucrative home video and pay and free TV windows. According to insiders, Sony’s distribution fee is slightly above 10%, with escalator clauses in the deal providing the studio with a bigger cut if the film performs better at the box office.

Is it a good deal for Sony? The simple answer is: Nobody knows. There’s really no precedent for the Jackson death mania, so its impossible to say whether it will spur millions of fans to pay $11 to see footage of his tour rehearsals a full four months after he’s died…

Some fans sat quietly beneath a large screen with a picture of Jackson and the words “Michael Jackson 1958-2009″ reflecting on what might have been.

Others, including several Jackson impersonators, led sing-a-longs of his greatest hits.

Will, another fan, said: “We’ve come here today even if there’s no gig tonight. We’re making our own gig, our own carnival atmosphere, we’re making this what it would have been if Michael had been here.”

Read the entire article.