Tween idol Miley Cyrus is turning into one of the most bankable female stars in recent years as Buena Vista’sHannah Montana The Moviesoared to the top of the charts with an estimated $34mopening weekend.

Disney executives had been cautious leading up to the holiday weekend and few believed the film had the chops to beat last year’s extraordinary $31.1m debut by Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best Of Both Worlds Concert Tour on just 683 3D screens.

However Cyrus’ predominantly female following delivered another powerhouse launch for the teenage starlet as Disney chiefs said that according to exit polls females accounted for roughly 80% of the film’s audience while 60% were aged between two and 17.

On the back of this adaptation of Cyrus’ Disney Channel TV hit Disney’s head of domestic distribution Chuck Viane said the company would shortly begin shooting The Last Song with Cyrus.

Universal’s action hit Fast & Furious dropped to second place and roared past $100m in its second weekend as $28.8m raised the tally to $118m. Combined with the number one international result over the weekend, the film has already crossed $200m worldwide.

DreamWorks Animation-Paramount’s Monsters Vs Aliens grossed $22.6m and has amassed $141m after three weekends. It ranked third, just above Warner Bros’ new dark comedy Observe And Report starring Seth Rogen as a shopping centre security guard, which launched on a mediocre $11.1m.

The only other new release to break into the top ten was Fox’s manga adaptation Dragonball Evolution in eighth place on $4.7m. In its fourth weekend Summit’s sci-fi thriller Knowingranked fifth on $6.7m for a solid $68m.

Next weekend’s wide releases are: Warner Bros’ comedy 17 Again starring Zac Efron; Universal’s thriller State Of Play adapted from the BBC mini-series and starring Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck; and Lionsgate’s action sequel Crank: High Voltage with Jason Statham.

Estimated Top 10 North America April 10-12 2009
Film (Dist)/Int’l dist/Est wkd gross/Est total to date

1 (-) Hannah Montana The Movie (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $34m -

2 (1) Fast & Furious(Universal) UPI $28.8m $118m

3 (2) Monsters Vs Aliens(DreamWorks Animation-Paramount) PPI $22.6m $141m

4 (-) Observe And Report(Warner Bros) WBPI $11.1m -

5 (4) Knowing(Summit) Summit Int’l $6.7m $68m

6 (5) I Love You, Man (DreamWorks-Paramount) PPI $6.4m $58.9m

7 (3) The Haunting In Connecticut (Lionsgate) Mandate Int’l $5.7m $46.3m

8 (-) Dragonball Evolution(Fox) Fox Int’l $4.7m -

9 (6) Adventureland(Miramax) WDSMPI $3.4m $11.5m

10 (7) Duplicity(Universal) Relativity Media $2.9m $36.8m

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