Opus Media Group chief executive Karl Fowler talking about the Michael Jackson Opus on US television. (0848652)

INTEREST in the official Michael Jackson Opus continues to grow.

Opus Media Group chief executive Karl Fowler recently appeared on NBC’s Today Show in the USA to talk about the publication, which is due out in December.

He also revealed that he spoke to the ‘King of Pop’ just three days before his death in June about the large 12kg book and how it would look.

‘He looked happy, fine,’ said Mr Fowler. ‘In those days before we were talking about how we were going to create the content and how the style was going to come about, he was really most into it and there were no signs.

‘He was very much happy and enthused about this.’

The opus, which will include previously unseen lyrics, drawings and pictures, will also be the first book to incorporate a technology known as augmented reality, which works by linking photos in the book to a computer via a webcam to allow the pages to come alive with footage.

‘It was something that Michael really bought into,’ said Mr Fowler.

Opus, formerly Kraken Sport & Media Ltd, was established as a standalone business at the end of 2005 following the set-up in Guernsey of the Kraken Group as a boutique finance company run by Mr Fowler and Paul Murphy.

The opus is the only new official Michael Jackson publication currently approved by his estate as he had already given it his blessing before he died, a judge in Los Angeles ruled in the summer.