The FINANCIAL -- Michael Jackson film “This Is It” earned more than £61m worldwide in its first five days, topping the US box office. "This Is It," is Sony Pictures' film made from rehearsal footage for Jackson's planned London concert series.

The film, which was released worldwide on 28 October, took $21.3m (£13m) over the weekend, taking its five-day haul to $101m (£61.5m), according to BBC.

The film not only defeated low-budget horror film Paranormal Activity, last week's US champion, but it did so even over a spooky Halloween weekend, Guardian informs. The Jackson documentary drew $32.5m (£19.8m) in the US, $10.4m (£6.3m) in Japan, and £4.6m in the UK.

The makers of This Is It had originally scheduled a theatrical run of just two weeks, marketing it as a brief worldwide event. Due to the film's success, these plans have changed – Sony have extended the movie's run for three weeks in the US, and one to three weeks in other countries, making This Is It more like ... every other movie, according to the same source. "He's just loved everywhere on the planet," Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony, told the Associated Press.

Bruer added that the studio is so pleased with the film that it is even considering an Oscar campaign for the picture, The Wall Street Journal reported. "Michael was one of those few artists that touched everyone on the planet," he says. "What just seemed like a concert movie in the beginning has turned out to be so much more."

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