The King is Dead. Long Live the King.

Remember when fans used to set up camp outside the box office, waiting through the night to buy tickets for rock concerts -- potentially once-in-a-lifetime rock concerts? For the new concert film Michael Jackson’s This Is It, some fans have waited in line three days for tickets to opening night, Tuesday, October 27.

For a movie. For a movie that already has a DVD release set for two months from now.

Such is the power of the King of Pop, whose Los Angeles rehearsals for his 50 sold-out concerts (which were to be performed this summer and early next year in London’s O2 Arena) supplied much of the footage for the documentary, which will run in theaters for two weeks only. When tickets went on sale late last month, 30,000 were sold within the first 24 hours across the U.S. So far, a million tickets reportedly have been sold in Japan.

Even in the Valley, tickets are going fast. Harkins Theatres reports that there will be day-of tickets available for most shows but encourages MJ fans to get to the movieplex plenty early to get a seat.

Michael Jackson’s This Is It opens at 9 p.m. Tuesday at various Harkins and AMC locations in the Valley, including Harkins Tempe Marketplace 16, AMC Arizona Center 24, Harkins Christown 14, and AMC Westgate 20. For more information about screenings, see www.harkinstheatres.com and www.amctheatres.com.