Hannah Montana storms US box office

Talk about yer counter programming… Disney scored a massive touchdown this weekend – a traditionally slow one for the movies since it also happens to include Superbowl Sunday – by putting up one of its biggest telly stars in what was promised as a short-run, exclusive 3D concert film. Yes, Hannah Montana (whose regular concerts have kids scrapping over tickets) took in a record-setting $29 million in this weekend’s estimated charts with Best Of Both Worlds. That’s more than Titanic managed in the same weekend, and while the Montana tickets were a few dollars more than regular cinema admission, it was only showing on around 800 screens.

Other than the pop princess, there was little good news for the fresh crop of actual movie releases. Jessica Alba’s horror The Eye did decent business, arriving in second with $13 million. But Strange Wilderness and the Eva Longoria Parker/Paul Rudd rom-com Over Her Dead Body bombed, failing to scrape into the top 10.

27 Dresses sat pretty in third, making $8.4 million, while Juno rode its Oscar cred higher in the charts, rising to fourth with $7.4 million and soaring far past the $100 million mark. Bringing up the rear in the top five we find Meet The Spartans with $7.1 million.

At sixth was Rambo, sinking down from second place last week with $7 million, while The Bucket List dropped a place to seventh with $6.8 million.‘Net thriller Untraceable took eighth, making $5.4 million.

At the bottom of the charts there was new international success Cloverfield, adding $4.9 million to its $71.9 million total in ninth and There Will Be Blood, also bathed in good Oscar buzz, which has earned $21.1 million so far, in 10th.