No film is completely devoid of value or conversation-starters — working example, Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert. Turning 15 years outdated this month, this function, at first look, doesn’t appear to be something significantly particular. It happy its goal demographic again in February 2008 and strengthened simply how ubiquitous the Hannah Montana model was within the late 2000s. What else is there to speak about relating to this movement image? But look a bit of bit nearer and Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert is downright fascinating in the way it’s the type of field workplace hit that Hollywood won’t ever be capable of replicate. Who might’ve recognized on the time, when Miley Cyrus was belting out “Nobody’s Perfect,” that we had been all witnessing the tip of an period?
‘Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert’s Box Office Significance
It’s not possible to overstate the field workplace achievements of Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert. Like many motion pictures aimed closely at girls, this live performance function arrived in theaters with out a lot in the way in which of expectations for the way a lot it might make on the field workplace. Even the loftiest ambitions for the way a lot money Miley performing in digital 3D might drum up, although, paled compared to its precise field workplace efficiency. On only a $6.5 million finances, Best of Both Worlds opened to $31.1 million. A staggering achievement contemplating the title was taking part in in simply 683 theaters (a mirrored image of how few film theaters had been able to exhibiting digital 3D motion pictures in early 2008), this was additionally the most important opening weekend ever for a film debuting the identical weekend because the Super Bowl.
By the tip of the yr, Best of Both Worlds nonetheless ranked because the twenty third greatest opening weekend of 2008, surpassing the openings of way more heavily-marketing movies taking part in in far more theaters like Step Brothers, Eagle Eye, and The Happening. It was additionally by far the most important opening weekend of that yr for a film opening in below 1,000 theaters (the second-highest-grossing film in that regard for 2008 was the $6.8 million bow of Fireproof). Looking over the style of live performance motion pictures, Best of Both Worlds was, on the time, the highest-grossing film ever on this area and solely the second (following Eddie Murphy: Raw) to crack $50 million domestically. Even immediately, Best of Both Worlds remains to be the third highest-grossing live performance film in historical past in North America.
These statistics aren’t simply vital so to bust them out the following time you’re at a celebration the place the subject of Miley Cyrus comes out (you’re welcome for that). They’re mandatory to grasp simply how momentous Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert was in its theatrical run. This factor wasn’t simply profitable, it was a definitive signal that the success of Hannah Montana may very well be translated into different mediums past tv. Plus, it gave the live performance film an enormous increase in life. In the years following Best of Both Worlds, a slew of different live performance motion pictures would make their technique to theaters, with This is It and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never each managing to narrowly eclipse the home whole of Best of Both Worlds. This film had a sizeable influence on popular culture…and but Hollywood won’t ever be capable of recapture its success.
Why Hollywood Will Never Make Another ‘Best of Both Worlds‘
A extra low-key purpose for a field workplace smash like Best of Both Worlds being not possible within the fashionable world is just the ubiquity of social media. This extension of the Hannah Montana model took place simply as Facebook and Twitter had been of their infancy. Before the invention of those platforms, a live performance movie was the one means folks in lower-income brackets would have an opportunity to see live shows they may not be capable of afford. Plus, sure initiatives supplied behind-the-scenes glimpses on the on a regular basis lives of well-known pop stars, an additional tantalizing prospect for any superfan of the recent boy band or pop singer of the second. Today, although, footage of well-known live shows runs rampant on social media, you may simply watch these performances there. Similarly, pop stars plaster Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok with glimpses into their on a regular basis lives off the stage. Concert movies of those sorts of stars don’t have a lot specialness anymore.
Meanwhile, the post-2008 live performance movie resurgence, regardless of This is It and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never doing fairly effectively, did not continuously ship hits on the dimensions of Best of Both Worlds. Titles like Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience, Katy Perry: Part of Me, Glee: The 3D Concert Movie, and Justin Bieber: Believe all did not reside as much as field workplace expectations. With these failures, Hollywood was much less inclined to provide main promotional pushes to additional live performance motion pictures. The monetary cratering of Jonas Brothers (which couldn’t even crack $20 million in its home run) appears to have been particularly deadly long-term for the style, because it seems to have scared Disney away from ever giving different Disney Channel stars live performance motion pictures within the vein of Best of Both Worlds. Disney would proceed to provide tween stars within the years after that live performance film failure, nevertheless it gained’t be producing something like Best of Both Worlds once more anytime quickly.
Best of Both Worlds additionally arrived at simply the correct second to take advantage of digital 3D as a contemporary new expertise. The thought of seeing a big-screen film in that format was nonetheless a brand-new deal with, particularly because the expertise, as much as that time, had been primarily utilized to feature-length animated motion pictures. Seeing live-action people within the realm of digital 3D was sufficient of a novelty to assist additional reinforce Best of Both Worlds as one thing particular as a theatrical occasion. It’s simply one of many many features of this film you simply couldn’t replicate within the fashionable world, the place digital 3D remains to be thought-about a punchline after being so overexposed within the early 2010s.
But what actually makes Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert not possible to copy within the fashionable world is its supply materials. Hannah Montana originated on the Disney Channel, the place it turned a rankings sensation. This program debuted in an period the place there have been extra restricted choices for main child’s leisure on tv, which allowed one thing like Hannah Montana to emerge as a popular culture phenomenon. But it’s tough to think about that type of program being attainable immediately, at the least if it debuted on Disney Channel. A DefunctLand video concerning the Disney Channel jingle introduced knowledge displaying that reside viewership of the community had plummeted by a bit of over 90% from 2007 (a yr when Hannah Montana was particularly well-liked) to 2021.
The Disney Channel is a shadow of its former self, like all cable channels. Because of that, it’s arduous to think about it with the ability to launch a present like Hannah Montana with a sizeable sufficient fanbase to spur a success like Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert into existence. Bands with notable younger fanbases nonetheless exist immediately, however the fragmented nature of recent popular culture has resulted in smaller fanbases than even 15 years in the past. This is concisely mirrored by how any theatrical live performance movies about fashionable singing sensations are inclined to debut both on streaming (the place we’ll by no means know the way a lot or little they had been considered) or as limited-run Fathom Event screenings. These titles can nonetheless exist and draw passionate followers, however they gained’t be as massive or able to demolishing field workplace data like Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert.
‘Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert’ Ended an Era…But Its Legacy Survives
Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert actually was the tip of 1 chapter for the endless e book of theatrical exhibition. In some methods, the way in which Best of Both Worlds contrasts with the fashionable world of popular culture is really disheartening. The promise of digital 3D evident on this live performance film getting diluted within the years that adopted by overzealous studio executives, for example. Meanwhile, the abandonment of live performance motion pictures by Walt Disney Pictures regardless of the field workplace success of Best of Both Worlds was a harbinger of how restricted this studio’s theatrical film slate would develop into within the years to come back. Best of Both Worlds was each cheaper and far more worthwhile than subsequent huge Disney blockbusters like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and The Lone Ranger. However, blockbusters nonetheless dominate the fashionable Disney film panorama whereas Best of Both Worlds is a relic of the previous. Still, change isn’t innately dangerous.
Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert is an not possible film to precisely replicate within the fashionable field workplace panorama. That type of live performance movie based mostly on a cable present is lifeless, however within the curiosity of “a new attitude,” that doesn’t imply related shock field workplace hits typically are now not attainable. Last yr’s Everything Everywhere All at Once proved that, even within the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, motion pictures can observe within the footsteps of Best of Both Worlds and redefine what we predict is feasible on the field workplace. Future situations of this phenomenon gained’t be live performance movies, however maybe they’ll be movement footage that revive one other seemingly lifeless style on the large display. There’s an unpredictability embodied by the field workplace haul of Best of Both Worlds that’s simply unspeakably thrilling. If there’s something vital to remove from the inimitable existence of Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert, it’s that really something can take off like a rocket on the field workplace.