‘Hannah’ scores Super Bowl victory
Long before Sunday’s kickoff, the 15-year-old pop-culture sensation Miley Cyrus was on her way to breaking the first records of Super Bowl weekend.
Walt Disney Pictures’ 3-D movie “Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour” scored the highest gross ever for the big-game weekend with an estimated $29 million in three days.
The studio said its weeklong run would be extended to a second week, through Valentine’s Day, as many had expected. “Exhibitors are over the moon,” said Mark Zoradi, president of Disney’s motion picture group. “We’ve got a great-playing movie that can get repeat business.”
Despite showing at only 683 theaters because of technological limitations, the G-rated “Hannah Montana” opened better than expected and was by far the weekend’s No. 1 movie, thanks partly to the higher ticket prices that 3-D movies can fetch. Some theaters charged $15 or more for the special event, leading to a whopping average of $42,500 per location.
A distant No. 2 for the weekend was Lions Gate Films’ “The Eye,” a PG-13 thriller starring Jessica Alba, which opened to an estimated $13 million. Twentieth Century Fox’s romantic comedy “27 Dresses,” starring Katherine Heigl, continued to hold up well, placing third with $8.4 million.
Super Bowl weekend is typically sluggish for the movie business. But with “Hannah Montana,” business in the U.S. and Canada rocketed 37% from the same weekend in 2007, according to data tracker Media by Numbers.
Box-office analysts have been cautious about the outlook for 2008, noting that fewer major sequels are on the schedule, but the early results have been robust. Overall revenue is up 15% and attendance has climbed 11%.
Zoradi was optimistic about the second-week prospects for “Hannah Montana,” noting that moviegoers surveyed by CinemaScore rated it a solid “A.” Its ultimate total will depend on how many repeat customers and moviegoers outside the core audience of teenage and younger girls end up attending, he said.
Sales soared more than 50% from Friday to Saturday, when schoolchildren and the parents who shuttle them around became more available.
“Hannah Montana” was produced for about $7 million and shot with seven of the specially designed digital 3-D cameras that director James Cameron is using for his upcoming science-fiction thriller “Avatar,” one of several big-budget, live-action movies being made in the format.
“Hannah Montana” will be released later in overseas markets that have 3-D theaters available, Disney said.
Studios and theater owners are eyeing the performance of “Hannah Montana” as they invest heavily in 3-D feature production and scramble to convert auditoriums to show the movies more widely.
“The Eye,” meanwhile, matched or fell slightly below most industry expectations on a weekend often dominated by thrillers. The movie, produced for about $22 million by Paula Wagner’s C/W Productions, drew crowds estimated at 56% female, which is typical for the suspense genre.
And 75% of the audience was age 17 to 29, the demographic “sweet spot” being targeted, said Steve Rothenberg, Lions Gate’s president of domestic distribution. “The Eye,” a remake of a Chinese horror film, got a moderate “B-minus” grade from CinemaScore survey respondents.
But Rothenberg said he was encouraged by the film’s 17% bump in business from Friday to Saturday. Usually, films in the genre see business rise by 5% to 10%, he said.
The weekend’s other major release was the Eva Longoria Parker-Paul Rudd romantic comedy “Over Her Dead Body,” produced by Gold Circle Films and distributed domestically by New Line Cinema, which grossed $4.6 million to open at the lower end of expectations and apparently just miss the top 10.
The previous record for a Super Bowl weekend opening was held by “When a Stranger Calls,” which grossed $21.6 million in 2006. And the Super Bowl record for a movie at any stage of release had been held by the long-running epic “Titanic,” which grossed $25.2 million in 1998 during its seventh weekend.
“Hannah Montana” also was shown at the smallest number of locations for any No. 1 movie, according to Disney.
That distinction previously belonged to the raunchy comedy “Borat,” which grossed $26.5 million when it opened in November 2006, averaging $31,600 at 837 theaters.
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Box-office results
Despite playing at fewer than 700 theaters, “Hannah Montana” broke Super Bowl weekend records and easily ranked No. 1. Preliminary results (in millions) in the U.S. and Canada, based on studio projections:
*--* -- Movie 3-day gross Total Weeks -- (studio) (millions) (millions)
1 Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: $29.0 $29.0 1 -- Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour -- (Disney)
2 The Eye (Lions Gate) 13.0 13.0 1
3 27 Dresses (20th Century Fox) 8.4 57.1 3
4 Juno (Fox Searchlight) 7.5 110.3 9
5 Meet the Spartans (20th Century 7.1 28.3 2 Fox)
6 Rambo (Lions Gate/Weinstein) 7.0 29.8 2
7 The Bucket List (Warner Bros.) 6.9 67.7 7
8 Untraceable (Sony) 5.4 19.5 2
9 Cloverfield (Paramount) 4.9 72.0 3
10 There Will Be Blood 4.8 21.1 6 -- (Paramount Vantage) *--*
Industry totals
*--* 3-day gross Change Year-to-date gross Change (in millions) from 2007 (in billions) from 2007 $125.0 +37.2% $0.93 +15.4% *--*
Note: A movie may be shown on more than one screen at each venue.
Source: Media by Numbers
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