Hannah Montana: The Movie brought in $34 million in its first weekend of release, and its first-day take of $17 million was the highest ever for a G-rated live-action film. It performed significantly better than industry analysts had expected, achieving the second-best opening weekend of any Easter weekend release (behind only Scary Movie 4; it’s amazing what audiences will gravitate to on Good Friday and Holy Saturday….).

As the title indicates, Hannah Montana: The Movie is a big-screen extension of the popular Disney TV show starring Miss Cyrus. Industry analysts noted that the audience trended strongly young and female, as expected, but unexpectedly it was not limited largely to younger girls, with a large percentage of the audience consisting of teenage girls who may have outgrown the TV show but were interested in seeing the movie.

Last week’s top cinema attraction, the entertaining and sound-valued cars and crime action film Fast and Furious, finished second with a solid $28.8 million, raising its ten-day total to a very healthy $118 million. The animated action-comedy Monsters vs. Aliens continued its strong performance and finished third.

Opening rather weakly was the Seth Rogen comedy Observe and Report, which finished fourth at $11.1 million. The film’s previews and commercials correctly indicated it as being rather bleak and more of a comedy-drama than a pure funfest.

Most of the films in which Rogen is the lead actor have a strong (and laudable) element of seriousness and dark humor—Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, and Zack and Miri Make a Porno—and awareness of that almost certainly held down this one’s audience appeal. Also undoubtedly limiting its attractiveness was the fact that the film’s central situation and setting were rather similar to those of the megapopular Paul Blart: Mall Cop, the year’s top-grossing film so far. Clearly audiences thought they had been there and done that and could live without a more serious version of the story.

—S. T. Karnick