Neighbours to fight Neverland revamp

NEIGHBOURS say they will fight any move to turn Michael Jackson’s former home, Neverland, into a tourist destination.

Residents of California’s rural Santa Ynez Valley have formed a new group called Never!

It is backed by community organisations that want to head off any attempts to convert the ranch in remote Los Olivos into a commercial venue, spokesman Bob Field said.

Mr Field said the area did not have the roads, police or infrastructure to support crowds drawn to a Graceland-like tourist attraction, which he said would destroy the enclave’s tranquillity.

Such a development would require the property to be rezoned from agricultural to commercial use, a lengthy process that would require public hearings where residents could express their opposition.

Santa Barbara County spokeswoman Nicole Koon said officials had not been contacted by the property’s owners or the Jackson family about a zoning change.

Property co-owner Thomas Barrack has not proposed developing the site, but Mr Field said the Santa Ynez Valley residents wanted solid reassurances.

“We have received mixed messages, some reassuring, some troubling,” he said. “We’d like clear, concrete signs that there are no plans to pursue turning this into a tourist attraction.”

Meanwhile, Sony’s movie studio has bid $50 million (€35m) for the distribution rights to a film based on rehearsal footage for Jackson’s This Is It comeback concert series, according to an insider.

The bid came after studios, including Paramount, Universal and 20th Century Fox, were shown footage starting early last week.

The winning studio would produce the film with Jackson’s concert promoter AEG Live, and his estate. It would go a long way to helping AEG Live recoup some of the $30-32m it spent producing the concert before Jackson, 50, died on June 25.

The bidding was reported by the Los Angeles Times and industry blogger Nikki Finke.

Sony Pictures has a leg up on other bidders because Sony Music distributes Jackson’s music and is in a 50-50 partnership with his estate in Sony/ATV Music Publishing.