As Nick, Joe and Kevin Jonas run away from the screaming, sign-toting tween masses in the opening scene of “Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience,” they’re nodding and winking — not literally but figuratively in homage to a similar scene in the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night.”
There is nothing new about the rockumentary, and there’s nothing groundbreaking about a youthful band captivating a goliath teenage audience across the world. The Jonas Brothers are familiar to everyone who lived through the New Kids on the Block or Hanson, and even without seeing their “concert experience” on the big screen, you can imagine how it all goes down.
And the Jonas Brothers, who release their big movie today, are fully aware that they’re the most recent in a long line of boyishly charming superstars.
But that doesn’t stop them from giving their all in the movie — which is a day-in-the-life snapshot of one of the biggest bands on the planet.
But how does the experience of seeing a concert on the big screen hold up to catching an actual concert? It depends mostly on the artist — and the artist’s fans.
It’s fitting that the Jonas Brothers employ the term “concert experience” in the name of their film, because what a concert ultimately boils down to is the experience — the quality of the sound, the proximity of the stage, the people around you, the energy in the room.
Concert films in movie theaters are ideal for sound and sightlines. Given today’s theater surround- sound systems, it’s all but guaranteed that the sound mix will be better in the movie theater than at any arena or auditorium.
It goes without saying that the sightlines in a stadium-situated, 300-capacity theater will be superior to those at a 15,000-seat venue.
That said, you’re still sitting in a movie theater watching a band on a screen. When Joe looks longingly to the audience, he’s looking at a different audience. When Kevin flicks his guitar pick to the fans in the front rows, the kids in the movie theater don’t stand a chance at catching the coveted piece of sweat-kissed plastic.
And that’s why some of these events fall flat. When Sheryl Crow debuted her “C’mon America” DVD in January 2004 with screenings in theaters, many fans left unimpressed. Crow’s demographic — fans well into their 30s — weren’t able to replicate that concert aesthetic at 7 o’clock on a Tuesday (or Friday, even) night at their local cineplex.
And what good is a concert if it doesn’t feel like a concert?
That’s where the Jonas Brothers come in. While the 35-year-old Sheryl Crow fan went to the movies and enjoyed 90 minutes of music, the 9-year-old Jonas Brothers fan will bring 15 of her closest friends and scream/cry/shout/ giggle/lose all composure over (maybe) 60 minutes of music. It will feel more like a concert — similar to 2007’s Hannah Montana/ Miley Cyrus “Best of Both Worlds Concert in Disney Digital 3-D,” a concert film that also featured, you guessed it, the Jonas Brothers.
Of course Disney is behind both concert films, and the straight-to-the-screen program has proved to be a potent revenue source for the media giant. The Montana film opened at more than $30 million and went on to collect more than $65 million in the U.S.
Those are sizable sums, given that the Jonas Brothers’ 2008 tour grossed $41.5 million and was the 13th-largest outing of the year.
In a struggling music economy, the big screen can be big money — for the right acts. And the Jonas Brothers are exactly that.
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com
“Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience”
G, of course. 1 hour, 15 minutes. Starring Nick, Joe and Kevin Jonas. Opens today at area theaters.
