The film was directed by Lindsay Anderson and produced by Jazz Summers, Martin Lewis and Simon Napier-Bell. Anderson originally made a film of the tour titled If You Were There; however this version was never released and Anderson was fired from the project while the film was remade into Wham! in China: Foreign Skies.[7]Wham! in China: Foreign Skies had its world premiere at the farewell concert held at London's Wembley Stadium on 28 June 1986.[8][9]
Production
Development
Manager Simon Napier-Bell’s negotiation for the two performances took over 18 months. Napier-Bell used cunning tactics to sabotage the efforts of rock band Queen to be the first to play in China: he made two brochures for the Chinese authorities – one featuring Wham! [Michael] as "wholesome", and one portraying Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury in typically flamboyant poses. The Chinese opted for Wham!.[3][10]
In December 1984 Wham! set out for their second concert tour, The Big Tour a commercial success, which promoted primarily their second studio album, Make It Big. The concept of filming Foreign Skies began when producer Martin Lewis was busy directing the 1985 documentary about Julian Lennon, titled Stand by Me – A Portrait of Julian Lennon. During a Wham! performance on 14 February 1985 at the Beacon Theatre in New York, he met the duo's co-manager Jazz Summers and discussed the possibility of filming the China tour.[11] When Lewis had permission for the film, it took two weeks to prepare the 35-member international crew, including transportation of a sound desk and super 16 camera equipment.[11]
British director Lindsay Anderson was engaged to accompany Wham! to China in April 1985. The second leg in East Asia began with two concerts in Hong Kong, before moving to China and a concert at the Workers' Gymnasium in Beijing on 7 April in front of a crowd of 12,000, who paid about $1.75 each. They also played a concert on 10 April in front of 5,000 in Canton where tickets cost about $5.50 each. The two concerts were played without compensation, however Wham's visit to China attracted huge media attention across the world.[12] Promotion of the project cost at least $1.5 million which was self-funded, due to Michael wanting artistic control over the film.[12][13]
Post-production
The film created by Strathford Hamilton and Andy Morahan was shot over two weeks, was then edited over summer and autumn 1985 in London. Anderson called his one-hour and 18 minute film If You Were There.[14] Michael, however, was unimpressed with Anderson's edit which contains only four songs of the tour, only one of which is a full performance, and thought the film "scornful" of Wham!.[7] Anderson was dismissed in October 1985 by Wham!'s management, the editing team quit, and the film was entirely re-edited, renamed and released as Wham! in China: Foreign Skies. The original edit of If You Were There has never been screened to the public as public screening of this version was blocked by Michael and his estate.[14][7] The film's original cut was finally screened publicly for the first time at the BFI Southbank twice, on 25 May and 31 May 2024, with the co-operation of George Michael Entertainment and Andrew Ridgeley.[15]
Music
The soundtrack used in the film was taken from the albums Fantastic and Make It Big. The documentary features some concert footage and studio cut excerpts of the following tracks:[16]
The world premiere of Wham! in China: Foreign Skies was shown at London's Wembley Stadium on large video screens on Saturday 28 June 1986 before The Final began.[8] With an audience of 72,000; this set a record for the largest audience at a film premiere.[8]
Home media
It was released on VHS, Betamax and LaserDisc in October 1986. The documentary has yet to be issued on DVD and only one track "Blue (Live in China)" from the film has been officially released on their studio album Music from the Edge of Heaven.
In the United States the video retailed at $19.98 and debuted at number 8 on Billboard's Top Music Videocassettes chart, for the week ending 25 October 1986 and climbed to number 4, two weeks later.[17][18] As the video started to climb up the chart, and for the week ending 6 December 1986, it reached number 1, replacing The #1 Video Hits by Whitney Houston.[19]Wham! in China: Foreign Skies was the sixteenth best-selling music videocassette for 1986.[20] It was present on the top 20 chart for a total of 17 weeks until February 1987.[21] The video was certified gold in April 1987 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipment of 50,000 copies.[22]
