‘Hannah Montana’ Wins Over Easter Weekend - Box Office Results 4/10-12/09

Fans flocked to theaters this weekend, and one thing was on their minds- "Get tickets to Hannah Montana: The Movie!"

Hannah debuted at #1 with $34 million, the second largest Easter opening ever behind Scary Movie 4. Combined with Monsters vs. Aliens and Fast and Furious, Hannah Montana helped to create the second busiest April weekend on record behind last weekend, and a 44% increase from the same time last year. The starlet's previous 3D concert-fest Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour came in at #1 opening weekend in 2008 as well, but only grossed $31.1 million. The Movie raked in nearly double what comparable The Lizzie McGuire Movie had when it started out in the box office. According to Walt Disney Pictures' exit polling, 79% of the audience was female and 60% were under 18 years of age, different than the exit polling for last October's Disney smash High School Musical 3: Senior Year. In addition, 66% of the audience was kids with their parents and 28% were teens.

When the tween flick opened in theaters Friday, April 10, it grossed an estimated $17.3 million, typically resulting in an estimated $40 million opening weekend haul; however the film fell 40% on Saturday, April 11. That day, Hannah came in only second to Fast and Furious. Over half of Hannah's $31.1 million came from Friday's total. The only other movie ever to have a larger Friday debut was Twilight. The weekend pattern was due to the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana's huge popularity among school-age children and the fact that its first day in cinemas was the Good Friday holiday, with nearly three quarters of schools nationwide closed.

After its record-setting debut last weekend, Fast and Furious came in at #2 this weekend with $27.2 million, decreasing 62%. The movie, starring Paul Walker and Vin Diesel, may have done incredibly well last weekend, now is going at the same rate 2 Fast 2 Furious did. Its total in ten days is now $116.5 million. DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens did agreeably well Easter weekend, coming in at #3 with $21.8 million. 60% of the gross was from 3D showings of the film, including $2.4 million from IMAX theaters, which were down 22%.

In fourth place, my pick of the week Observe and Report made $11 million, in the same range as Seth Rogen's previous comedy Zach and Miri Make a Porno and a third of what Paul Blart: Mall Cop got opening weekend. Warner Bros.' exit polling indicated that 59% of the audience was male and 74% were 17-29 years old.

Thriller Knowing dropped 21% to $6.4 million, its total $67.8 million in 24 days. I Love You, Man deceased 19% to $6.3 million, its total now $58.9 million in 24 days. The Haunting in Connecticut fell 38% to $5.9 million for a $46.5 million total in 17 days.

Also released this weekend, Dragonball: Evolution grossed a disappointing $4.8 million, about the same as comparable Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, but with a far larger release. The film grossed a fraction of similar The Forbidden Kingdom and much lower than past bomb Bulletproof Monk.

Closing out the top ten, Adventureland came in at #9 in its second week with an estimated $3.4 million. Its total is a disappointing estimated $11.4 million in 10 days.

Here's the estimated box office result from April 10-12 according to BoxOfficeMojo.com-

Report by Nick Ondras with additional information from Brandon Gray of BoxOfficeMojo.com.