3D Hannah and Miley in Hampton Roads for one week only

To all the girls who were devastated when the latest Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concert tour didn't include Hampton Roads: Here's another chance.

A 3D movie based on the tour opens nationwide Friday, with showings in a few local theaters.

But there's a catch. Disney is offering the "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert" movie, featuring its 15-year-old TV star, for one week only. Tickets are $15 each.

Although ticket sales for the film are not expected to reach the frenzied proportions of the concert - with scalpers selling seats in online auctions for the equivalent of large mortgage payments - demand is high.

The film has consistently been a top-selling ticket on Fandango's Web site, said Harry Medved, spokesman for Fandango, the nation's largest movie ticketing service.

Theaters around the country are reporting that many showtimes are sold out, and cinema owners have been adding showings to keep up, Medved said.

The movie is playing in more than 600 theaters around the country.

Regal Columbus Stadium 12 in Virginia Beach, near Town Center, so far has eight showings scheduled for Friday and Saturday, beginning at 8:40 a.m. and ending with an 11:50 p.m. show each day. Two - at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 3:40 p.m. Saturday - were sold out as of Tuesday, according to Fandango.

In Virginia Beach, AMC Lynnhaven 18 theaters have six-show marathons scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, beginning each day at 10:30 a.m. Two of the showings for Friday, four Saturday and one Sunday were sold out as of Tuesday, according to the theaters' online ticket service, MovieTickets.com. AMC's Towne Center 24 theaters in Hampton also are offering six showings each day this weekend, and a handful were sold out Tuesday.

Bill Conner of Norfolk was online Monday night hoping to get tickets to take his daughter, 10-year-old Tori.

She saw Hannah Montana's last concert tour in 2006 at Old Dominion University's Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk. She liked the show and was disappointed when the newest tour didn't make it here.

The movie "would be a little different because she's not right there performing in front of you because it's just a movie, so it wouldn't be as great as seeing her in concert," Tori said. But it will be better than not seeing Hannah/Miley at all.

The movie has been hot since tickets went on sale Dec. 1.

It was the No. 1 seller on MovieTickets.com its first week, selling more on that Friday, Saturday and Sunday than any other movie for the entire week, said Joel Cohen, MovieTickets.com's executive vice president and general manager.

"It's the best-selling concert movie in Fandango's seven-year history," said Rick Butler, chief operating officer of Fandango.

Despite the potential headaches of scoring tickets, some parents say the movie will be worth it.

Tori's mother, Helen Conner, said she had a blast with Tori at the 2006 concert in Norfolk. And she appreciates the Disney TV character - a young girl whose rock-star, Hannah Montana image is shown as pretend, compared to her alternative existence as an average school girl named Miley Stewart.

"It really helps young girls understand the difference," Helen Conner said. "I've listened to all of her songs a thousand times, and I'm comfortable with her as a celebrity persona."

Cyrus has followed in the footstepts of her country star father, Billy Ray Cyrus. The "Hannah Montana" album has sold more than 3.2 million copies in the United States and more than 4 million worldwide. The two-disc "Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus" has sold more than 2 million copies in the United States and 3 million worldwide.

Disney declined to comment on why the movie is out for only a week and would not say whether the film would be released on DVD.

Mary Dalton, who teaches about film as an associate professor of communication at Wake Forest University, said, "The Hannah Montana movie is really more like big-screen television and less like conventional movies. The idea is to get people to come out at a certain time and see the film."

Compiled from reports by Elizabeth Thiel Mather, Virginian-Pilot features editor, and The Associated Press and The Washington Post.