BOX OFFICE: Film history to be made this weekend...

Film history is set to be made this weekend when HANNAH MONTANA/MILEY CYRUS: BEST OF BOTH WORLDS CONCERT TOUR becomes the first non-film to top the box office charts for the opening weekend of release. The movie which was released in digital 3-D amazingly took $8.6 million on Friday at just 863 locations (Jesus Christ!!) which has killed the opening of the latest Asian horror remake THE EYE which only managed $4.9 million at three times as many screens! I don't know what the hell this HANNAH MONTANA craze is all about but it's taking over the world right now and this concert theatrical release has got those young girls buzzing...

HANNAH MONTANA then becomes the first non-narrative movie to ever top the film charts and only second behind the surprise 2006 hit BORAT for the amount it's made in an under 1,000 screen release. Part of the film's success has been the fact that it's a limited time only deal (Disney are set to pull it from theatres at the end of the week, but now may give it a longer run) and that this craze the world is in now over this material is freaky. The movie is also expected to be the only movie that performs well this Sunday, the usual graveyard of releases because of the Superbowl. The movie which was expected to perform well but didn't was the Eva Longoria Parker movie OVER HER DEAD BODY which opened to a depressing $1.4 million at 1,977 screens and didn't even make it into the top ten. Well the movie did look nothing less than hideous. If there's one truth to 2008 so far is it's unpredictability factor. Movies like CLOVERFIELD and now this concert just goes to show that cookie cutter movies are playing second fiddle to great marketing and smart releases. source - variety