By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
Holey Hannah/The Miley High Club…
Hannah Montana in 3-D reigned in its weekend debut with an estimated record-breaking $29.7 million. The singing sensation eclipsed a trio of other freshmen including a tidy second place finish of $13.1 million for the chiller The Eye. However, not many got the joke of either Over Her Dead Bodyor Strange Wilderness that bowed respectively with grosses of $4 million and $3 million.
Activity in limited and alternative arenas was unusually quiet though the Lebanese female empowerment comedy Caramel generated a very sturdy $6,200 theater average from 12 engagements.
Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert in 3-D proved to be quite a mouthful as it bowed in every location with ReelD capability and in an additional 30 sites with comparable 3-D systems. Brushing aside setting a handful of Super Bowl weekend box office records, the film played very much like a Disney family film with the caveat that post 9 p.m. performances were also selling out.
The release was mapped out as a special event, locked one week engagement. Though the distribution community was under the impression that a 2D run would be mounted later in the year, Buena Vista distribution president Chuck Viane insists that makes no sense. What has changed since Friday matinee business is that the 7-day engagements are now open-ended engagements.
The latest horror adaptation from Japan, The Eye, had a better than respectable launch and maybe better than that considering its close proximity to One Missed Call. But familiarity seemed to work against Over Her Dead Body, the umpteenth romantic comedy in which the untimely deceased lover returns to wreck havoc on the surviving partner’s new romance. The questionably eco-humorous Strange Wilderness seemed to slip into the marketplace without much enthusiasm from its distributor.
Overall business was pushing close to $125 million that represented a 14% decline from seven days earlier. However, on the traditionally soft (particularly Sunday) Super Bowl session, box office expanded by a rather amazing 40%. In 2007, the leaders were new entries The Messengers andBecause I Said So that finished their first weekends with box offices of $14.7 million and $13.1 million.
Last weekend leaders Meet the Spartans and Rambo each took sharp 60% plus hits and Cloverfield continues to evaporate rapidly.
The pictures playing the Oscar card are benefiting from Academy attention though one would be hard pressed to say either the individual or collective awards boost is as buoyant or significant as seen in past years.
Weekend Estimates – February 1-3, 2008
| Title | Distributor | Gross (averag | % change | Theaters | Cume |
| Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Conce | BV | 29.7 (43,550) | – | 683 | 29.7 |
| The Eye | Lions Gate | 13.1 (5,370) | – | 2436 | 13.1 |
| 27 Dresses | Fox | 8.5 (2,850) | -37% | 2976 | 57.2 |
| Juno | Fox Searchlight | 7.3 (2,960) | -28% | 2475 | 110.1 |
| Meet the Spartans | Fox | 7.0 (2,640) | -62% | 2643 | 28.2 |
| Rambo | Lions Gate | 6.8 (2,450) | -63% | 2764 | 29.6 |
| The Bucket List | WB | 6.8 (2,330) | -36% | 2915 | 67.6 |
| Untraceable | Sony | 5.2 (2,200) | -54% | 2368 | 19.3 |
| There Will Be Blood | Par Vantage | 4.8 (3,190) | -1% | 1507 | 21.1 |
| Cloverfield | Par | 4.8 (1,600) | -62% | 3007 | 71.9 |
| Over Her Dead Body | New Line | 4.0 (2,000) | – | 1977 | 4 |
| Strange Wilderness | Par | 3.0 (2,510) | – | 1208 | 3 |
| Atonement | Focus | 2.9 (2,140) | -25% | 1367 | 42.1 |
| National Treasure: Book of Secrets | BV | 2.9 (1,680) | -41% | 1733 | 209.7 |
| Alvin and the Chipmunks | Fox | 2.7 (1,390) | -40% | 1958 | 207.6 |
| No Country for Old Men | Miramax | 2.2 (1,760) | -8% | 1273 | 55.2 |
| Michael Clayton | WB | 1.8 (1,740) | -21% | 1010 | 44.1 |
| Mad Money | Overture | 1.7 (1,040) | -62% | 1665 | 18.3 |
| First Sunday | Sony | 1.4 (1,410) | -57% | 1015 | 36.5 |
| How She Move | Vantage/Mongre | 1.4 (970) | -64% | 1461 | 6 |
| I Am Legend | WB | 1.0 (1,330) | -53% | 777 | 253.3 |
| U2 3D | nWave | .77 (12,620) | -20% | 61 | 2.2 |
| The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything | Uni | .60 (790) | -54% | 765 | 11.2 |
| Sweeney Todd | Par | .53 (1,000) | -56% | 536 | 51.5 |
| Charlie Wilson’s War | Uni | .50 (1,210) | -46% | 412 | 65.4 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | – | $121.40 | – | – | – |
| % Change (Last Year) | – | 40% | – | – | – |
| % Change (Last Week) | – | -14% | – | – | – |
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Diving Bell and the Butterfly | Miramax | .43 (2,110) | 8% | 205 | 3.7 |
| The Savages | Fox Searchlight | .39 (1,940) | -11% | 201 | 4.7 |
| Persepolis | Sony Classics | .33 (3,470) | -4% | 95 | 1.8 |
| Caramel | Roadside At. | 74.500 (6,210) | – | 12 | 0.07 |
| The Witnesses | Strand | 14,700 (4,900) | – | 3 | 0.01 |
| Tre | Cinema Libre | 3,600 (1,800) | – | 2 | 0.01 |
Domestic Market Share – To January 31, 2008
| Distributor (titles) | Gross* | Market Share |
| Warner Bros. (10) | 172.1 | 20.40% |
| Fox (6) | 142.1 | 16.90% |
| Paramount (4) | 92.8 | 11.00% |
| Buena Vista (5) | 88.4 | 10.50% |
| Fox Searchlight (3) | 77.6 | 9.20% |
| Sony (7) | 76.2 | 9.00% |
| Universal (3) | 37.9 | 4.50% |
| Par Vantage (5) | 29.7 | 3.50% |
| Focus (2) | 28.1 | 3.30% |
| Lions Gate (3) | 22.9 | 2.70% |
| Overture (1) | 16.5 | 2.00% |
| MGM (5) | 15.1 | 1.80% |
| Miramax (2) | 13.7 | 1.60% |
| New Line (1) | 8.9 | 1.10% |
| Picturehouse (1) | 5.3 | 0.60% |
| FreeStyle (2) | 4.7 | 0.60% |
| Other * (21) | 11.1 | 1.30% |
| – | 843.1 | 100.00% |
