'Hannah' holds box-office sway with $29M

A girl looks at a poster outside a screening of 'Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert' at the Ziegfeld theater Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008 in New York. [Agencies]

First, she sells out a nationwide concert tour. Now Miley Cyrus and pop-star alter-ego Hannah Montana are selling out movie theaters in such record-breaking style that the film's run has been extended.

"Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert," the 3-D film chronicling her recent tour, was the biggest debut ever over Super Bowl weekend, pulling in $29 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Distributor Disney planned to have the movie out for only a week but now has decided to keep it in theaters until it runs its course.

The concert film — featuring 15-year-old Cyrus both as herself backstage and as her Disney Channel character, pop sensation Hannah — filled the void for fans unable to catch one of the live shows on the Hannah Montana 54-date tour.

The digital 3-D technology also gave fans the illusion of practically being at a live show, said Mark Zoradi, president of Disney's motion-picture group, who visited several packed theaters where the movie played over the weekend.

"The screaming level was unbelievable. It almost plays like a concert. At the end of a song, you have audiences clapping like you do at a concert," Zoradi said. "Parents who weren't able to get concert tickets, now they were able to take their kids and satisfy that demand, and kids were in a way able to be up close and personal, with the best seats in the house."

The film surpassed the previous Super Bowl record of $21.6 million set by "When a Stranger Calls," which opened over the same weekend two years ago.

Lionsgate's "The Eye," a remake of the Japanese horror hit, opened at No. 2 with $13 million. "The Eye" stars Jessica Alba as a blind concert violinist whose vision is restored by a corneal transplant that also results in terrifying visions.

"Desperate Housewives" co-star Eva Longoria Parker delivered a dud with her first top-billed movie, "Over Her Dead Body," which opened with a weak $4.6 million to finish at No. 11. Distributed by New Line, the movie stars Longoria Parker as a dead woman whose ghost tries to break up a romance between her fiance (Paul Rudd) and his new girlfriend.

Playing in just 683 theaters, "Hannah Montana" broke another record: never before has a movie in so few cinemas premiered at the top of the box office chart.