Weekend Box Office Roundup

Miley Cyrus’ alter ego claims the box-office crown.

After two #1 openings in a row, there’s no question that Hannah Montana is a major box office draw.  Last year’s 3D concert event enjoyed a $31 million opening weekend and now the narrative feature Hannah Montana: The Movie has bowed to $34 million.  But what does this mean for the gal that plays her, one Miley Cyrus?  Are we dealing with a genuine movie star here or is Cyrus destined to be another Hilary Duff, whose career promptly tanked after she moved away from the Disney Channel persona (that would be Lizzie McGuire–remember her?) that first put her on the map.  One can only assume that the Cyrus clan–particularly Miley’s dad, Billy Ray, Mr. Achy Breaky Heart himself–is studying Duff’s filmography very carefully to make sure their daughter doesn’t make the same mistake.  Right now, there hasn’t been any official word about whether this movie will be Miley’s last appearance as Hannah, which means there are probably some very interesting and very intense negotiations going on behind the scenes.  In the meantime, Miley’s only other film project appears to be an original screenplay penned by Nicholas Sparks, the guy that wrote the teen-friendly romances The Notebook and A Walk to Remember.  That’s set to debut in 2010, so we’ll have to wait a year to see whether Miley will be able to establish herself as an independent star or if she’ll be wearing Hanna’s blonde wig until she’s 25.

After stunning everyone its first weekend out, Fast & Furious crossed the finish line in second place with $28.7 million, boosting its total gross to $118 million.  At this point, the movie is well on its way to surpassing the sequel’s $127 million and could blow by the original’s $145 million to become the highest-grossing movie in the franchise.  DreamWorks’ animated action flick Monsters vs. Aliens watched Hannah Montana take a bit out of the family audience demographic, but still managed to come in third, comfortably ahead of the new Seth Rogen comedy Observe and Report, which opened to a so-so $11.1 million.  The Nicolas Cage vehicle Knowing rounded out the Top 5.  People, people: don’t you realize that by paying for crap like Ghost Rider, Next and Knowing, you’re only enabling Cage’s awful career choices?

Clocking in at #6, 7 and 10 respectively were three more March holdovers, I Love You, Man and The Hauting in Connecticut and Duplicity.  Meanwhile, Greg Mottola’s Adventureland failed to find traction its second week out, falling to ninth place.  Does this mean we can expect to see Superbad 2 same time next year?  And finally, the collapse of Dragonball Evolution suggests once and for all that folks just aren’t that interested in seeing bad live-action adaptations of video games and or cult anime series.  Dragonball’s opening weekend grosses were almost identical to February’s Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li flick and its safe to assume both are also identical in terms of their poor quality.

The full Top Ten is below courtesy of the-numbers.com.  Next weekend, tween star Zac Efron sets his sights on taking down Miley Cyrus with 17 Again, Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck headline the thriller State of Play and Jason Statham revives the Crank franchise with Crank: High Voltage.

The Top Ten: April 10-12, 2009
1. Hannah Montana: The Movie: $34
2. Fast & Furious: $28.7/$118
3. Monsters vs. Aliens: $22.6/$141
4. Observe and Report: $11.1
5. Knowing: $6.7/$68
6. I Love You, Man: $6.4/$58.9
7. The Haunting in Connecticut: $5.7/$46.3
8. Dragonball Evolution: $4.6
9. Adventureland: $3.4/$11.4
10. Duplicity: $2.9/$36.8