Hollywood high on Miley, Bollywood in a Ditch

Hannah Montana: The Movie doubled forecasts by earning US$34 million worth of tickets at the Easter weekend box office in North America, as young fans of teen starlet Miley Cyrus rushed to see their heroine's first big-screen outing.

The movie ranks as the second-best Easter opening, following 2006's Scary Movie 4 with US$40 million.

"Omgomg! my fans rock! the movie is doing great you guys!" Cyrus, 16, said in a Twitter message.

Disney had hoped Hannah Montana would perform in the same range as 2003's The Lizzie McGuire Movie, another big-screen vehicle for a Disney Channel star, in that case Hilary Duff. Lizzie... opened to $17.3 million in 2003, and ended its domestic run with $42.7 million. Last weekend's champion Fast & Furious slipped to No 2 with $28.8 million, taking the 10-day total for Universal Pictures' race-car thriller to $118.0 million.

Meanwhile 'Pal Pal Dil Ke Ssaat', 'Ek Se Bure Do' and 'Coffee House' all bombed at the Bollywood box office, in fact the films ran for hardly 5 days in certain cinemas. Last week's big release, Akshay Kumar's 8X10 Tasveer fell flat at the box office not just in India but overseas as well.