Michael Jackson Movie in Development

A Hollywood movie made using footage of Michael Jackson rehearsing for his planned series of comeback concerts could hit theaters by the end of this year, US media reports said Monday.

Daily Variety reported that Sony Pictures studio was close to agreeing a $50-million deal for worldwide rights to nearly 80 hours of footage showing pop icon Jackson rehearsing before his death.

The report said AEG Entertainment, the company which owns the material and had been behind Jackson's proposed series of concerts in London, had screened the footage to Hollywood studio executives last week.

Variety reported that Kenny Ortega, the choreographer for Jackson's new "This Is It" concerts and the director of hit film "High School Musical," was expected to direct the movie.

So far only a brief snippet of Jackson's concert rehearsals have been revealed to the public.

Footage released on July 2 showed Jackson practicing a song-and-dance routine at Los Angeles's Staples Center two days before his death, supporting accounts he had been in good health.

Associates of Jackson have described the 50-year-old pop star as being in good form, including at another rehearsal the day before his death.

Jackson collapsed and died on June 25 at his rented Los Angeles mansion. A final cause of death has not been revealed as coroners await the results of toxicology tests.