The highly acclaimed Spike Lee documentary detailing the creative process of the King of Pop during the making of his legendary 1987 “Bad” album has finally been made available for fans around the world to purchase.
The film recently appeared quietly in the online store on the official Michael Jackson website – michaeljackson.com – with no fanfare or announcement from either Sony Music or the Michael Jackson Estate.
Today I learned that the Estate do not plan to make “Bad 25” available to retailers around the world – meaning you can’t buy the documentary in stores. Instead documentary, which is available in both DVD and Blu-ray formats, will be exclusively sold online – at least for now.
“Bad 25” was a huge hit with Jackson enthusiasts following its August 2012 debut at the Venice Film Festival, subsequent cinema screenings around the world and eventual television broadcasts on major networks in select regions. The film showcases Jackson’s creative genius wonderfully, taking you on an exclusive behind-the-scenes journey from the conception to the realisation of some of the most iconic visual masterpieces in music history – including “The Way You Make Me Feel”, “Smooth Criminal” and the title track, “Bad”.
It was commonly believed by fans that the documentary would be re-launched on physical formats, featuring additional unreleased footage and bonus features, in order to maintain the momentum that the initial “Bad 25” campaign had generated. This would follow the the release of the “Bad 25” commemorative album, Live at Wembley concert DVD and box set – all of which hit the market in September 2012.
However, since the documentary’s November 22, 2012 Thanksgiving broadcast on ABC in the U.S., the global campaign, which at one point included a Pepsi endorsement, TV ads and a CD single, had seemingly come to an end. As a result, sales of the “Bad 25” commemorative album suffered, selling a mere 100,000 copies in the U.S. to date since its release.
In addition to being available on michaeljackson.com, the “Bad 25” DVD and Blu-ray, which does not appear to include any additional footage or bonus features, will be made available at the merchandise stands at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino when Cirque du Soleil’s brand new production, “Michael Jackson ONE”, premieres to the public on June 29, 2013.
Update: Spike Lee has tweeted a fan in response to questions about the documentary. Lee confirmed that the “Bad 25” DVD and Blu-ray will be free region, released worldwide and that an extended version WILL available also. See below…
“@saino23: @spikelee will the #BAD25 be free region and released worldwide ?! will there be extended version or somethin ?!”YES”.
— Spike Lee (@SpikeLee) May 31, 2013
Fingers crossed that Spike is correct and we get to see even more footage of Michael doing what he does best. Time will tell. Stay tuned…
Cha’mon!
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This is a damn shame. When Spike Lee was asked by an audience member at the Toronto Film Fest if there would be any extra features/footage on the DVD/Blu-ray release, he answered with “Yes, another hour!”
Not getting any additional footage, when Spike Lee assured the world additional footage would be on the DVD release, is rotten news. What’s equally bothersome is that there’s no time length shown on the website purchase info. So…is this release the full 2-hour documentary that Spike Lee presented last summer? Or is it just the ABC abbreviated version shown on TV in the USA on Thanksgiving 2012?
“…since the documentary’s … Thanksgiving broadcast on ABC in the U.S., the global campaign, which at one point included a Pepsi endorsement, TV ads and a CD single, had seemingly come to an end. As a result, sales of the “Bad 25″ commemorative album suffered, selling a mere 100,000 copies in the U.S. to date since its release.”
This is SO unfortunate!!!! I have no doubt that it was the ABC broadcast which ultimately killed the plans for the DVD release with extra features. They chopped it up so much to make it fit into the allotted time between commercials that it came off horribly. It was such a disappointment to me and I can understand why the general public would not have been enticed to go out and buy the DVD after watching it that night. The excitement about it being aired on a major network during prime time on Thanksgiving night with SO much exposure caused those in charge to lose sight of the importance of the story and the quality of what was being presented! It was a costly mistake that could not be reversed once it was out there. After this disaster, why would the Estate or Sony choose to put more money into expanding the documentary for sale to a public that wouldn’t buy it? If I were not a huge fan and supporter of everything Michael-related, and after seeing the butchered version of the doc on TV, I would not be interested in buying the DVD either. I am a supporter of the Estate and the Bad 25 projects, but this is just so sad – a missed opportunity for sure. It only proves that if anybody had learned anything from Michael, it would be that quality should ALWAYS come first… the numbers will follow.
I’m so happy I didn’t run and order a copy as soon as I seen the posting of it, thinking I was getting something that’s not included. Charly Rae is so right in saying the Thanksgiving Evening showing was a disappointment. Becus I was expecting so much more…. #fail
This is disappointing. I just do not understand the estates reasoning behind not including extras. Why?
Update: Spike Lee has tweeted a fan in response to questions about the documentary. Lee confirmed that the “Bad 25″ DVD and Blu-ray will be free region, released worldwide and that an extended version WILL available also.
Let’s just wait and see. It makes no sense to me to waste all the extra footage they have by not including it. Hopefully Spike is right.
So, per Spike Lee’s tweet info, is this current release the ABC abbreviated version of the film? Is this current release the full film without additional footage? Will there be a later release with additional footage? I see no place (about this release) to even see film length. I feel info about this release is sketchy, limited, and mostly confusing… Hoping for clarity.
I agree, Rosalynn. The way this showed up so quietly without any official announcement from anybody and so few details about the DVD is very odd. Makes me wonder if they are testing the waters to see how many pre-orders are submitted before making a final decision about whether to add extra footage. Or maybe there was a communication problem and this site jumped the gun on posting it. Whatever the reason, I’m sure it will be straightened out fairly soon. And I have a feeling that, at the very least, the DVD will be the full 2 hour documentary that was broadcast in the UK. I can’t imagine it being any less than that.
I am from the UK so got to see it in full. It would be nice if the included footage of Michael jackson in the studio recording the title track, I think the dvd needs to have extra footage; that was the best part about bad 25 documentray, to be able to see video angles never before seen, and takes not included in the final video.
From what I understand that it will most likely be in stores worldwide on July 2nd, but at the moment it’s just PRE-ORDER on the official site, at least for now & I definetly fount it odd that none of the fans got any sort of notification from the Estate or Spike Lee really, but hey, i’m gonna keep my eyes peeled for it when it comes out officially on July 2nd
I’m sorry but how is it ABC fault??? And why people expect that they was gonna show the WHOLE THING in the first place on t.v. is beside me. It was on a Thanksgiving night where alot of people wasn’t watching t.v. and why people expect ABC showing commercials free full 90 min docu..??
In the UK they played all of it no adds, but obviously we dont celebrate thanksgiving so it wasn’t a big deal in terms of amount of people watching tv. But anything less than the whole thing I would have been disappointed I attempted to re-watch the ABC version and it was just upsetting.
Heres hoping the DVD version is at least as long as the UK broadcast, I would love some extra content but as long as its not the ABC make shift version I’ll be alright .
It’s been confirmed by the Estate that the DVD and Blu-ray won’t be sold in stores.
See: http://www.damienshields.com/confirmed-no-retail-release-for-bad-25-documentary/
These days even lame artists release extra features, video, posters etc. With MJ , we never really had that in 10+ years.
Stupid idea to only sell it on sony’s website. Is it so difficult to sell on amazon?