Why Did ‘Hannah Montana’ Flourish Where The JoBros Flailed?
Posted by meredith on 04-15-2009
With “Hannah Montana: The Movie” landing as a box office mega hit and the overall Miley Cyrus lovefest that seems to have a resurged as of late (her past indiscretions seem forgiven, if not forgotten), I thought I’d put the question to Ypulse readers: What did Miley’s movie have that The Jonas Brothers movie didn’t?
To recap: Box office projections, reported by E! Online, had the JoBros earning somewhere around $30 million for their opening weekend, a disappointing far cry from the $12 million they actually delivered. Meanwhile, “Hannah Montana,” who was expected to earn a more modest $18 million to $20 million, $25 million, at best, ended up blowing those expectations out of the water by racking up a record-breaking $34 million. This begs the question: why were tweens not as breathless over the Disney boy band’s 3-D concert flick as they were for the tween queen’s semi-autobiographical story of splitting time between the backwoods of Tennessee and the backlots of Hollywood?
Some might say it was because Disney got the formula backwards for the JoBros franchise, putting the movie in front of the musical comedy series, which as EW points out has a chance of being as ill-fated as their film. Others would argue that the Hannah Montana/Miley character is just more compelling to watch on the silver screen. After all, up until now the boys have been more musicians than actors. Fans are used to the experience of seeing the group preform in person on stage, rather than watching that experience once removed in a movie theater. Both of these reasons would also help explain why Cyrus’ own 3-D concert movie brought in $8,651,758 on its opening day last year, and was one of the highest-grossing opening weekends for a film to be released under 1000 theaters. And then again, maybe, Miley’s off-screen antics are more of a draw than a detractor? Sure, the media might wag its finger (and sometimes rightfully so), but in a way doesn’t that make the star and her fictional counterpart more complex? Or at least more intriguing than the squeaky clean trio whose past and current love interests seem to be the only newsworthy items we hear about? My guess it’s a combination of these things, but I’d like to hear what readers think. Leave your thoughts in comments.
For more coverage of the tween space, check out the Ypulse Tweens Channel, sponsored by the Tween Tribune.
Categorized under: Tweens
April 15th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Interesting observations. Did you think about exploring the gender factor? Perhaps the Jonas Brothers only appeal to tweenage girls (as boy-bands often do), while Miley Cyrus and her alter-egos might have more of a universal appeal.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
That’s so true Todd — especially given our recent post about how older teens and college students also went to see Miley’s movie.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
My take is that it all comes down to the right marketing mix targeting both kids and parents. What self-respecting adult would sit through a 3-D Jonas Bros concert movie? By comparison, Hannah Montana is a welcome alternative with broad appeal among women and girls of all ages. And the PR has been amazing. My 6 year-old daughter and I have been fighting over this month’s Glamour Magazine (with Miley on the cover.)
April 15th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
My five year old is a fan of the Jo Bros. So I took her opening weekend. The crowd consisted mostly of older teens and quite a large number of young adults (18-20).
I also have a 14 y.o. who wasn’t home that weekend. But had she been, I think she would have gone because a lot of her friends are big fans of the band in the “Marry me Nick” vein.
I think tweens like the band to sing along to. But they spend more time with Miley via the Disney show which gives the Hannah Montana movie the requisite “stickiness” for that crowd.
Maybe (and I still wouldn’t bet on it) if Disney had pushed the movie release to post-Jo Bros disney show premeire, it may have gone over bigger with tweens.
April 15th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
I think that while teen/tween girls squeal over the JoBros, they *relate* to Miley. I’ll admit that at 23, I was in the audience for Hannah Montana on Monday night. I called it a “cultural experience,” but I spent more time than I expected thinking about the Hannah/Miley dualities in my own life. In light of Liz’s book on Supergirls, I think the Hannah/Miley crisis of who you are vs. how you want the world to see you is far more powerful for this audience right now.
April 15th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
I think girls want to see the Jobros, but they want to BE Hannah, or Miley. This is one of the few characters that girls can identify with, unlike boys who have Spiderman and all of the myriad other superheroes.
Plus the Hannah Montana tv show is well-written and pretty entertaining, and the movie is even better.
Let’s face it, Miley is just too lovable and sweet, how can we resist her?
April 16th, 2009 at 6:28 am
Hannah Montana is in its third season, allowing time and build-up for a film, while the Jonas Brothers have appeared on the music/TV scene relatively recently. It takes time to build an audience that is genuinely invested in the characters on the show and actors in real life. I’d agree with the assessment that Disney got it backwards by creating a film before a TV series.
April 16th, 2009 at 8:56 am
HI:
Men are not allowed to be role models right now. Marketers know we don’t get together or even eat together. One of the cultural belief norms left, men are the rapists and bad people. Men have been disenfranchised even in cartoons and we also have movies with ugly monster men and fifty foot tall hero women. What does it produce, Individualism like tattoos and flip flops. Oh well, we have equal pay now and a women in Britain just taught us that an ugly old person can really sing; now that is progress!
April 16th, 2009 at 9:46 am
no real contribution to the conversation than to say miley did not, and is not, grow up in the ‘backwoods’ of tennessee. im not sure how the movie portrays her setting, but she’s from franklin which is in williamson county one of the top ten riches counties in the country. just thought i’d share
April 16th, 2009 at 9:51 am
bunch of good reasons listed
but
i’m with todd on this one
girls like girls and boys
boys only like girls
miley crosses over to maximize her pop culture momentum
April 16th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Just a note to the reply above about men as role models: Miley/Hannah’s father character is reportedly portrayed as a wise, strong, loving dad, so Disney’s got a positive male image built into the storyline. Also, Billy Ray Cyrus is still pretty popular among many the country-music loving moms and aunties who’d be taking their kids to this film. That 30+ generation doesn’t have quite the connection to the Jonas Bros just yet. Good points above, and the Jonas guys are young–they’ll do fine!
April 16th, 2009 at 11:34 am
I think it’s pretty simple: Hannah Montana is a TV show with millions of viewers weekly, which means it has a much bigger fanbase. Meanwhile, Jonas Brothers is a boyband which is very popular but with a smaller audience. Also, Hannah Montana reaches more demos: toddlers, tweens and teen girls.
April 21st, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Don’t take it the wrong way, but it’s not that Jonas is lacking fans, but the ones they have are overly zealous. It turns everyone but the diehards off doing anything to do with the band, I felt like walking out of the line these people are so nuts. And it’s also entitlement, they exude an aura that Jonas is the best band ever, and nobody wants to be around a crowd of people like that. Sorry, but it took me four opportunities to buy Jonas tickets because every other time I talked myself out of it because of the fans.
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:39 am
[...] course, concerns about the sustainability of the JoBros' on-screen popularity aren't exactly new. Back when the Monkees-style sitcom "JONAS" premiered in May the Los Angeles [...]
February 11th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
[...] not pack the punch to knock out Adam Sandler from the top spot. Factoring in the possibility of a JoBros bust, projections for opening weekend of 3-D Bieber biopic "Never Say Never," range from $10 million to [...]