When the Jonas Brothers' concert movie didn't debut as big as Miley Cyrus', the performance was portrayed as a disappointment.
Now it's Justin Bieber's turn to be judged against Cyrus. Wish the kid luck.
"On Monday," BoxOffice.com editor Phil Contrino told us, "you're going to see all these headlines, 'Bieber Flops.'"
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Contrino himself doesn't think Never Say Never is going to flop. But he thinks it's going to underwhelm enough--settling for second or even third place at the weekend box office, behind Adam Sandler's and Jennifer Aniston's Just Go With It, and, possibly, the animated Gnomeo &Juliet--so as to invite unflattering comparisons.
"He's definitely going to end up closer to the Jonas Brothers," Contrino said.
In 2009, a year after Cyrus' Hannah Montana hybrid, Best of Both Worlds, set a new (impossible?) standard for concert movies with a blockbuster $31 million debut, the Jonases' effort "only" bowed with $12.5 million.
Never Say Never has been projected to gross anywhere from a Jonas-esque $12 million on the conservative side to a This Is It-sized $24 million on the bullish side. Contrino is the middle, predicting a $17 million take.
Any of the figures would have impressed. About four years ago.
VIDEO: Bieber fever was still raging at the Never Say Never premiere