In a showcase for the evening people were urged to show up earlier that 3am, being 2am so they could be a part of the mingling, watch the live feed off several plasma screens in the reception of the cinemas.

And to enjoy some of the treats of Play energy drink and fruit juices to help stay awake or some tequila berry concoction and have a chance to mingle with their favourite celebs such as TKZee’s Kabelo Mabalane, DJ Fistaz Mixwell, Tbo Touch,  So You Think You Can Dance presenter Sade Gilberti, flute hotties Kwela Tebza, rally racer Gugu Zulu and 5FM’s DJs Anele Mdoda and Poppy Ntshongwana who all graced the South African red carpet.

The flick that has sold over 24 000 tickets in SA alone all for R200 in the 2 weeks it will be on circuit,  shared its premiere time with five other continents in the world from New York, to LA and in South Africa. As the local guests watched stars attend the premiere LIVE on plasma screens in the reception of the cinema house to see what went down at the Nokia Theatre, that had guests such as  ”American Idol” winner David Cook, Mickey Rooney, Jennifer Lopez ,Will Smith and Paris Hilton and ofcourse MJ’s brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon who all took to adoring fans as they strolled the red carpet. While at the same time in New York’s Time Square Regal Theatre on 42nd street and 8th Avenue people could spot Oprah Winfrey’s best friend Gayle King, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, movie director Spike Lee and actor Ice-T.

As guest went into the theatres with their complimentary drinks and popcorn in hand there was a buzz of excitement, but after the movie, tears, overwhelming sighs and silence was something that could have never been imagined.

The movie which showed a never seen side of Michael Jackson’s rehearsal for his 50 last concerts that were supposed to happen at London’s O2 Arena gave some anecdotes of him, like everytime in the movie we hear him utter “God Bless You” and “I love you” to his crew, director Kenny Ortega. Even when he was in pain or rather unsettled about something he would tell the people and they would do what they can to make him comfortable.

Not to give out too much about the film, it became a trending topic on popular social networking site Twitter, with some of the people that were at the movie, tweeting their favourite bits of the film using the words as typed #ThisIsIt – as a sign that those were anecdotes from the film.

“Gone too soon #Michael Jackson #thisisit”  Mdoda tweeted.

“What I learnt while watching This Is It: Being good is not good enough. Be great. #thisisit” said writer Khaya Dlanga.

It was great waking up tired but when I met the energised twitter family members such as Suede, Khaya Dlanga, Kabomo Vilakazi, Nthsongwana, Xolisa Dyeshana, Mdoda, Shaka Sisulu and more, I knew, just maybe this was my only chance to see this flick with friends and be able to share my thoughts of it, with a smile instead of tears. I know they would have cracked up laughing if I even cried.

Thanks to the organisers Ster-Kinekor, Total Exposure and Fourways Mall for such a great time, I don’t regret waking up after all.

Video By Jason Von Berg