Film Biz Goes Bananas Over Hannah

Film execs looking to inject life into the dormant sphere of alternative content—showing concerts, sporting events, etc., in theaters—are turning their eyes toward teen star Miley Cyrus and her cash-cow alter ego, Hannah Montana. Cyrus dominated conversation today at an industry conference because her enormously popular 3-D concert film proved that the concept can work in the US, Variety reports.

Her movie had theaters selling out nationwide, with some opening early and closing late. At 15 bucks a head, and roughly 2 million heads, Montana has called quite a bit of attention to the niche's lucrative possibilities, such as beaming in World Cup soccer matches and charging premium prices for tickets. “Putting regular 2-D movies on screens is not the future,” one studio exec said. (More Hannah Montana stories.)