Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' Video Stars You as Part of the 25th Anniversary Celebration!

Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' Video Stars You as Part of the 25th Anniversary Celebration!

Seminal Video from the 20th Century is Enhanced by Breakthrough Technology for the Next Century

PASADENA, Calif., April 11 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time ever and through the magic of technology, anyone can now star in the greatest music video of all time -- Michael Jackson's Thriller -- as part of the album's worldwide 25th anniversary celebration! Michael Jackson and Epic/Legacy Recordings (Sony BMG) have partnered with innovative media company Big Stage and YouTube to bring this landmark entertainment experience to the world. Central to the tribute is the ability for fans to easily create a life-like 3-D version of themselves that literally replaces the role of Michael Jackson in the music video. This cutting edge technology was developed by Big Stage. The campaign begins today at www.MichaelJackson.com/mythrillervideo.

(Logo:

http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060130/LEGACYLOGO)

"This is a great tribute to Michael Jackson, involving one of the greatest and most innovative music videos of all time," said Jonathan Strietzel, co-founder and chief creative officer, Big Stage. "We're excited about working with Epic/Legacy Recordings to demonstrate the first public Big Stage experience -- inserting a photo-realistic avatar of 'you' into digital content. This is just a taste of the way consumers will be able to personalize everything from famous movie scenes to video games, virtual worlds and social networking sites, when we officially launch next quarter."

"Michael Jackson is an innovator and a pioneer in the music industry and so it only makes sense, as part of our anniversary celebrations for Thriller, to give fans worldwide a new way to experience the video in a way not even Michael could have imagined 25 years ago," said J.J. Rosen, Executive Vice-President, SonyBMG Commercial Music Group. "Our partnership with Big Stage, is an amazing way to fundamentally change people's interaction with content."

Once users have uploaded their photos to create their personalized Thriller video, they will be sent a link to a YouTube page where the video will be posted. From there, it can be shared with friends by email and posted on social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook. A recent fan generated video reached the Top 25 viewed Entertainment videos on YouTube, and most recently, MTV caught wind of the My Thriller Video tool, and produced a piece with their talent showcasing the process for MTV.com NewsBlog.

The Michael Jackson Thriller 25th anniversary celebration kicked off in December 2007 with the release of a new single and continues throughout 2008 with a multi-faceted global marketing campaign featuring high-profile television, radio and online events around the world. The Big Stage-enabled Thriller video piece is part of Epic/Legacy Recordings' viral campaign in support of the album's 25th anniversary release on February 12, of which the first single was "Wanna Be Startin' Something 2008," a duet between Michael Jackson and Akon. The album has already sold 2 million copies worldwide.

With Big Stage's 3-D capture technology, users will take three simple pictures of themselves with a digital camera and upload them to the Web, where they will be quickly converted into a life-like 3-D avatar called an @ctor(TM). Big Stage's proprietary technology will automatically map the contours of a user's face to generate an incredibly accurate replica of the user, fully equipped for animation. In under a minute, your @ctor will be born and fully alive through realistic movement and gestures. Users can then style it with a host of accessories, from hair to eyeglasses, tattoos, hats and more.

After users create and style their @ctors, they can drop them into the library of Big Stage-enabled user and professionally created content or Scenes. These highly personalized Scenes can then be shared by users across everything from famous movie scenes, TV shows and video games, to music videos, short video clips, virtual worlds, still images, user-generated content, instant messages, e-mails, social networks and more -- instantly. Big Stage will officially launch to consumers in the second quarter of 2008.

About Big Stage

Big Stage is a media company, currently in Beta, whose breakthrough technology allows users to easily create and integrate a life-like 3-D avatar of themselves, called an @ctor, into everything from famous movie scenes, TV shows and video games, to music videos, short video clips, virtual worlds, still images, user-generated content, instant messages, e-mails, social networks and more -- instantly. Big Stage will launch to consumers in the second quarter of 2008. For more information and to sign up for the Big Stage Beta program, please visit www.BigStage.com.

About Thriller

Epic/Legacy Recordings proudly celebrates the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's Thriller with a newly expanded deluxe edition of the phenomenal record-breaking pop culture touchstone. The Thriller -- 25th Anniversary Edition will include the original album in its entirety as well as seven bonus tracks and a DVD featuring Michael Jackson's groundbreaking short films from Thriller ("Thriller," "Beat It," and "Billie Jean") and the artist's Emmy-nominated breakout performance of "Billie Jean" from the legendary "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever" television special. Additionally, the newly expanded version of Thriller premieres six tracks previously unreleased in any form: "Beat It 2008" with Fergie; a new Kanye West remix of "Billie Jean"; a new 2008 version of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" with Akon; will.i.am remixes of "The Girl Is Mine" and "P.Y.T."; and "For All Time," a rare unreleased cut from the original Thriller recording sessions, newly mixed and mastered by Michael Jackson. Originally released in the United States 25 years ago on November 30, 1982 by Epic Records, Thriller, Michael Jackson's sixth solo album and second with producer Quincy Jones, rocketed the former child-star lead singer for the Jackson 5 into the stratosphere of international superstardom. In 1985, the Guinness Book of Records named Thriller the Best Selling Album of All Time, an achievement which remains unsurpassed to this day.

Photo: NewsCom:

http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060130/LEGACYLOGO
AP Archive:

http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Epic/Legacy Recordings

CONTACT: Michelle Mikoljak of Fleishman Hillard, +1-213-489-8213,
Michelle.Mikoljak@Fleishman.com; or Lois Najarian O'Neill of THE DOOR,
+1-718-383-1708, Lois@TheDOORonline.com; or Tom Cording of Legacy Media
Relations, +1-212-833-4448, LegacyMediaRelations@sonybmg.com

Web site:

http://www.michaeljackson.com/mythrillervideo
http://www.legacyrecordings.com/
http://www.bigstage.com/

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