'17' is No. 1; 'Hannah' falls to No. 4

By Michael White and Don Jeffrey, Bloomberg News  |  April 20, 2009

The teen comedy "17 Again" opened as the weekend's top film, taking in $24.1 million in ticket sales for Time Warner Inc.

The film displaced "Hannah Montana: The Movie," which dropped from first place to fourth with sales of $12.7 million in US and Canadian theaters, researcher Media By Numbers LLC said reported yesterday.

Films tailored to teen audiences ruled the marketplace for a second weekend. "17 Again" features Zac Efron, star of Walt Disney Co.'s "High School Musical" movies for theaters and television. The "Hannah Montana" film and TV show, also from Disney, stars Miley Cyrus.

" '17 Again' posted very solid numbers," said Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo. "It was a heavily promoted comedy that had fairly broad appeal. It was the first body-switch movie since '13 Going on 30,' which came out in April 2004."

Year-to-date, domestic ticket sales have climbed 17.3 percent to $2.92 billion, according to Media By Numbers.

Through April 16, News Corp. led Hollywood studios with $498.8 million in box-office sales, according to Box Office Mojo. Time Warner was second with $491.1 million, and Viacom Inc. was third with $442.3 million.

In "17 Again," Efron's character awakens one morning to find that he's 17 years old. The joy of being young again is tempered when he finds himself in the same high school as his children. Matthew Perry stars as the older version of the character.

The film was expected to take in about $19 million, according to the estimate of Gitesh Pandya, editor of Box Office Guru. Among 80 reviews compiled by the website RottenTomatoes.com, 53 were positive.

Universal Pictures' political drama "State of Play" opened in second place with sales of $14.1 million. It stars Russell Crowe as a journalist investigating the death of an aide to a congressman and potential presidential candidate played by Ben Affleck. Universal is a unit of General Electric Co.

"Monsters vs. Aliens," the 3-D animation feature from DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., earned $12.9 million in its fourth week and remained in third place. The movie, about a group of monsters called on to battle invaders from outer space, is the top-grossing film this year with $162.7 million in overall sales.

"Fast & Furious," from Universal Pictures, fell to fifth from second with $12.3 million in sales. The film is the fourth in the series about illegal street racing and stars Vin Diesel and Paul Walker.

The action sequel "Crank: High Voltage" opened in sixth place with $6.5 million in sales.