Hannah Montana concert movie sets presale records
Marcela Isaza

LOS ANGELES—Walt Disney Co’s Hannah Montana concert film dominated U.S. online movie ticket sales on Wednesday, a day ahead of its debut, despite opening in fewer than 1,000 theatres. The 3D movie, which features a filmed concert by “Hannah Montana” singer-actress Miley Cyrus, opens on Thursday at midnight in 684 digital 3D theatres, a Disney spokeswoman said.
Fandango.com and MovieTickets.com, the top online ticket sellers, said “Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert” accounted for more than three-quarters of their ticket sales as of Wednesday morning. Fandango.com said “Hannah Montana” was the site’s best-selling concert film ever, selling out more than 1,000 showings and accounting for 91 percent of sales as of Wednesday morning.
MovieTickets.com reports that the film ranked eighth on its all-time presale list and was tracking at nearly 90 percent of sales on Wednesday. The Hannah Montana character, which originated on a Disney Channel television series of the same name, has proved phenomenally popular with “tween” girls who have turned out in droves to see Miley Cyrus and her father and co-star, Billy Ray Cyrus, perform in concert.
Meanwhile, Hannah Montana mania has already conquered TV, the music industry and the touring world. Now it’s set to take over the film industry — for one week. On Friday, theatres nationwide will show “Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert,” a 3-D film version of the sellout tour — and already, tickets for the film are in short supply. Clearly the “Hannah Montana” brand — which started as a Disney TV series but has branched out into multiplatinum albums and stage shows — hasn’t reached saturation point.
Which is all good for the 15-year-old star behind the phenomenon, Miley Cyrus. In the past year, she’s become a sensation that sells tabloids besides albums and tickets. Her fame would be hard for most adults to handle, but in a recent interview, Miley seemed to have a good grasp on how to handle the spotlight.
Q: Why do a film version of the tour in 3-D?
Miley: It was mostly because of the tickets and there were so many people that didn’t get to come to the show. This is like better than front row. You could reach out and feel like you can touch my hand you could see me right then. Right there, right in front of you, which is so fun. Also just to be able to see behind the scenes which I think is the most clever part of anything. Just getting to see what all goes into this. They can walk around knowing what real hard work it is. I mean I think I have the easiest job.