MANILA, Philippines?Cebu?s dancing prisoners are hitting it big again with a new Internet video featuring a spectacular routine led by Michael Jackson?s choreographer dancing to the title track of the pop king?s posthumous DVD.

The clip has already generated almost a million hits on the video sharing wesbite YouTube since it was uploaded on Friday by Sony Entertainment ahead of Tuesday?s global release of the late superstar?s ?This is It? DVD.

The four-minute, 26-second film shows Jackson choreographer Travis Payne, together with dancers Daniel Celebre and Dres Reid, leading 1,200 inmates clad in regulation orange prison trousers and black shirts featuring the DVD?s logo. They go through a well-synchronized jail yard routine to the music Drill and Jackson?s ?They don?t care about us.?

Sony said Payne and his crew spent two days this month at the maximum security jail in Cebu to rehearse and record the dance as part of the promotion for the launch of Jackson?s DVD.

The King of Pop died on June 25 last year.

First YouTube hit

The Cebu inmates, including murderers, rapists and drug traffickers, achieved instant cult fame around the world when a clip of them dancing to Jackson?s ?Thriller? hit was posted on YouTube in 2007.

The ?Thriller? clip has since generated 37.5 million hits, fuelling the prisoners? ?cult aura.?

Since then, in fact, the Cebu jail has been charging entrance fees to tourists who come to watch the inmates? performance.

According to Byron Garcia, the obviously-proud Cebu jail warden, a local contact of Sony Entertainment phoned him last December to tell him about the plan of the company to do a video of the dancing inmates.

He admitted he thought the news was too good to be true. He said it was only when he was informed that the production crew was arriving in Cebu on Jan. 16 that he informed his sister, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, about the project. She agreed to the filming of the video ?free of charge.?

?Agreeing to the project has no money consideration because it?s priceless. I mean, no money can buy the prestige,? Garcia said.

Rehearsals

However, he said, the inmates were given the black T-shirts they wore in the filming of the dance videos and were provided snacks throughout the dance rehearsals.

The inmates? dance program choreographer, Gwen Lador, coordinated with Payne to make it easy for the inmates to follow the steps, Garcia said.

The inmates rehearsed the whole day of Jan. 19 and on the morning of Jan 20. The filming of the dance video was done at 2 p.m. that Tuesday, Garcia added.

The deal was that the shooting would be exclusive to Sony Entertainment. Garcia said the production crew was very strict about this. Aside from the crew, Garcia said he was the only one allowed to take videos and no media coverage was allowed.

Garcia saw the clip as a plug for Cebu?s leadership as well: ?The song ?They Don?t Care About Us? is about prisoners who feel nobody cares for them. But look at us. Our local government really cares for the inmates. The good performance of the inmates reflects the good governance of my sister in the province,? Garcia said, beaming.

The governor had her own message: The inmates ?have given the province of Cebu so much pride and have actually put the province at the center of world?s attention. And so I am so thankful for the transformation of our inmates from what they were when I first became governor to what they are now. That?s truly been amazing,? the governor said. Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas; and Agence France-Presse