REVOLVER:There's life in Michael Jackson yet. Since his untimely death four months ago, Jacko has become the biggest- selling artist of the year, but all those people rushing to reacquaint themselves with this weird musical genius by buying his albums represent just the preparatory work for the real ker-ching event that will arrive in two weeks, writes BRIAN BOYD

For the past few weeks there has been a team of guards outside a Los Angeles recording studio, where the finishing touches were being put to a new Jackson song, This Is It, which he had planned to unveil at his first London 02 show.

The song has been completed sans Jackson, with new backing vocals from his brothers. From the little that has leaked out about the song, we know it will be a big, barnstorming, orchestral affair, drenched in maudlin sentiment, and will undoubtedly go straight to No 1 around the world.

This Is Itis being released only as a "radio single", meaning you won't be able to buy the single or download it. The security is such that it's not being released to the press before its first radio airing next Monday.

There’s a good reason why the press aren’t getting the song and why it’s not being made available to buy: these four minutes are worth millions.

The radio single is being used to trail the album of the same name, which goes on release on Oct 26th. This Is Itwill be a double CD affair. One disc will have the original master recordings, including two versions of the new song; the second will have previously unreleased versions of Jackson's songs (remixes, etc) as well as a new spoken-word poem called Planet Earth, which will be really nauseating, but never mind.

The full album, including the single, will be on iTunes on October 26th. While there’s been no official confirmation, you can bet the radio single will still not be available as an individual download. To own it, you will have to buy the double album.

That's why the security is so dramatic. The song is the only thing people really want from the "new" album – most of the rest consists of previous releases or remixes. As long as the song is "locked", it looks likely that the This Is Italbum will be No 1 at the end of the year (The only serious contender will be Susan Boyle).

But Jacksonmania doesn't end there. There is also a This Is Itfilm, which has been cobbled together (err, lovingly assembled) and which details all the events in Jackson's life between April and June of this year – mainly rehearsal footage for the 02 shows. There was a bit of legal argy-bargy about who actually owned these 100 hours of footage, but the two main players, the Jackson estate and AEG Live (the promoters of the 02 shows), struck a deal with Sony Pictures and handed over the tapes for $60 million (€41 million).

The Jackson estate flexed their muscles, insisting that the film could “not include any footage that puts the superstar in a bad light” and that they had approval over the final edit.

Sony Pictures has gone into warp speed marketing overdrive with this. The first thing it did was announce that the film would be released to cinemas for a strictly limited two-week run only. (It goes on release in the same week as the This Is Italbum).

Tickets to most of the US screenings have already sold out, and Europeans are being advised to go to the official site (www.thisis ittickets.com) to order tickets.

Cinemas worldwide are already arranging 24-hour screenings of the film in order to keep up with demand (the two-week timeframe is being rigidly enforced). Still unannounced is the distinct probability that the film will be out on sell-through DVD in time for the Christmas market.

So, there will be no escaping Michael Jackson in all of his multimedia guises over the next few months.

And apparently they've just finished a The Making of the "This Is It" filmDVD.

The This Is Itsingle is released to radio stations only on Monday. See listings page 20 for details of the Man In the Mirror Michael Jackson tribute shows in Dublin’s Olympia this weekend