Jonas Brothers Movie A Disaster! I Mean, A Smash!

The Jonas Brothers 3D concert film opened this weekend to $12.7 million. Some people casually mentioned that this was the second biggest opening weekend of all time for a concert film. But most were like Billboard, which said, "Jonas Brothers 3D Film Falls Flat" or the New York Times, which declared the Jonas Brothers are no Miley Cyrus.

But here's the truth: with their opening weekend total, the Jonas Brothers movie became the third highest grossing concert film OF ALL TIME. That's right. This "flop" has scored bigger at the box office in one weekend than concert films by U2, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Talking Heads, Neil Young, N Sync and countless others did during their entire run. Even having a concert film get released in movie theaters is unusual. The number one grossing concert film of all time is by Miley Cyrus (featuring...the Jonas Brothers) which grossed $65 million. #2 (for the moment) is Madonna: Truth Or Dare, a concert/documentary that grossed $15 million. By next weekend, the Jonas Brothers will have the second biggest grossing concert film of all time.

So questions about why it wasn't bigger are a tad crazy. But here's why it wasn't bigger. Miley Cyrus toured for three and a half months, with a ticket frenzy surrounding every stop. (Her opening act for most of the tour? The Jonas Brothers.) In comparison, the Jonas Brothers toured for most of 2009 and sold almost 1 million tickets. There was no crazed, pent-up demand to see them in concert the way there was for Miley Cyrus. And yet they still had an opening weekend total bigger than the complete gross of every other concert film in history, except two.

So don't say the Jonas Brothers fell flat. Say that Hollywood still finds it remarkably difficult to predict the movie-going habits of teenage girls. And don't let early suggestions of massive box office taint a smash hit concert film with the aura of a flop. That would be like tagging any movie that didn't match the grosses of Titanic a failure. Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert is a huge success by any reasonable standard.

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See Zorianna Kit's interview with the Jonas Brothers here.

And read David Wild's witty comparison of a showdown between the Jonas Brothers and Scott Walker here. Actually, the comparison isn't so strange, since the Walker Brothers were a huge hit until Scott Walker broke off and released his baroque, increasingly insular solo albums. It would be like Joe Jonas leaving the group and putting out ambient soundscapes on his own. Could still happen....

Comments

[LiberalBuzz]

I just can't care. I really can't.

I could care less about opening numbers or whatever. Legs on the other hand. Think anyone will still be watching the boys ten years from now or The Song Remains the Same like it is now?

So, they should enjoy it while they can because they will be in Branson, MO before they know it playing to overweight former groupies of theirs.

[Michael Giltz - Huffpost Blogger]

I actually do think their new album was a big step forward. It's definitely on my list of the best 40+ albums of the year (covering all genres, not just pop). So I wouldn't be surprised to see them (or Nick or Joe a la Justin Timberlake) continuing on and producing better and better music down the road.

[OverIt]

So it's official. Miley's team is MUCH SMARTER than the people running the Jonas Bros. operation!

When her movie was released, Miley’s peeps claimed the movie would only run ONE weekend... taking a page out of the Disney script ("see it now, before it get's locked in the vault!").

That brilliant marketing stroke got all the parents out and propelled her movie to #1. And lo and behold, the movie kept playing! Gasp.

In this economy, only a SEE IT OR MISS IT would get the parents out in droves. The boys should have learned how to do it by watching Miley. It it’s ain’t broke… COPY IT!

[Michael Giltz - Huffpost Blogger]

That was Disney's call, not Miley's. And given the minimal box office for concert films prior to her film and the competition they had for IMAX screens with U2 (which people assumed would be a bigger draw in that format), it was a reasonable marketing ploy and worked great, especially given the dearth of tickets for her concert tour making this a must-have for any parent with girls. HOWEVER, if Dinsey had tried to announce the Jonas Brothers concert as a one-week only event, it would have been widely derided and mocked as a cynical marketing ploy they would abandon come week two. The bad press and such would have been overwhelming, tarnishing the JoBro name. Smartly, they avoided that. The JoBro team is smart, though I think the upcoming TV series smacks of overkill. They should keep the focus on their music (and a live action comedy directed by the Farrelly Brothers coming up is much smarter for branching out.) The TV show just seems like the Naked brothers band after puberty.

[OverIt]

Thanks so much for responding to my comment. You are 100%. I guess that was a one-off plan/ploy that worked well for Miley. You can only cry wolf once! Oh no, I didn't know about a TV Series. Overkill to be sure! Believe me, I know. I am a Menudo-NKOTB-Nsync fan alum so I'm very familiar with the premature jump of the shark through overexposure. Again, thanks for your response. Your post was great fun to read with all of the other news out there!

[LizzyTish]

I am a big Jonas fan...isn't the overkill kind of already here? Their press this week has been abysmal. It's really too bad, I don't think they deserve it at all - towards their music or their personalities - but they can't seem to avoid press but for getting the worst kind. Strikes me as very unfair, but it's like an avalanche of popular adult opinion giving them thumbs down. Bummer.