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.
