Michael Jackson's Ghosts

Michael Jackson's Ghosts
Promotional poster
Directed byStan Winston
Screenplay byStan Winston
Mick Garris
Story byMichael Jackson
Stephen King
Mick Garris
Produced byMichael Jackson
Stan Winston
David Nicksay
StarringMichael Jackson
CinematographyRussell Carpenter
Edited byMarcus Manton
Music byMichael Jackson (songs)
Nicholas Pike (score)
Production
companies
MJJ Productions
Kingdom Entertainment
Distributed bySMV Enterprises
Release dates
  • October 25, 1996 (1996-10-25)
  • May 8, 1997 (1997-05-08)
(Cannes)
Running time
39 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15 million ($29 million in 2023 dollars)[1]

Michael Jackson's Ghosts is a 1996 short film starring Michael Jackson, directed by Stan Winston, and written by Stephen King and Mick Garris. It is based on a story by Garris, Jackson and King.

Ghosts tells the story of an eccentric man with supernatural powers being forced out of a small town by its judgmental mayor. Jackson plays five roles, and performs dance routines set to the songs "2 Bad", "Is It Scary" and "Ghosts", taken from his albums HIStory (1995) and Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix (1997). The AV Club described Ghosts as an allegory for Jackson's life and pop culture status.

Ghosts was filmed and released in 1996 and released along with select prints of the horror film Thinner, and was first screened in the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.[2] It was released as promo a year later internationally on LaserDisc, VHS and Video CD.

  1. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  2. ^ "Stan Winston School of Character Arts". www.stanwinstonschool.com. Retrieved May 12, 2022.