wizards of waverly place the movie

Disney Channel's next princess has officially been crowned.

The network's Friday night premiere of 'Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie,' starring Selena Gomez, averaged 11.4 million viewers, with 4.5 million in the kids 6-11 demo and 4.0 million in tweens 9-14. That makes it the most-watched cable program of 2009, topping 'Jon & Kate Plus 8''s separation episode in June (10.6 million viewers).

Even better news for Disney: The 'Wizards' movie is now the second-highest-rated entertainment telecast over the past two years, according to Variety. 'High School Musical 2' is first with 17.2 million. An August 2007 episode of 'Hannah Montana' (10.7 million) and 'Wizards on Deck With Hannah Montana' (9.3 million) rank third and fourth, respectively.