Can Taylor Swift’s Newly Revealed Concert Movie Continue Barbenheimer’s Momentum? Barbie in particular – and become a cultural rallying cry at the fall box office?
Cinema owners are counting on that, after last week’s surprising announcement Taylor Swift: The Eras tour The concert film will hit theaters across the US and Canada over several weekends starting October 13. Various exhibition sources tell this The Hollywood reporter they believe the film could gross a record $100 million, based on smooth presale ticket sales. They also wouldn’t rule out the movie eventually grossing $150 million or more domestically.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
That’s welcome news amid the ongoing writers’ and actors’ strikes, prompting high-profile fall movies to delay their release. Sony’s Kraven the Hunter, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the Marvel anti-hero, moved from October 6 to August next year. Warner Bros. and Legendaries Dune: part two was scheduled for November 3; now it will open in March 2024 in the hope that the cast will be available for publicity by then (SAG-AFTRA prohibits talent from promoting any affected company’s films or shows.)
To date 2011 Justin Bieber: Never say never holds the record for the highest-grossing concert film at the domestic box office with $73 million, unadjusted for inflation. It made another $26 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $99 million.
Michael Jackson’s 2009 posthumous documentary/concert film This is it earned $72.1 million domestically and $181.9 million worldwide. After topping the chart on its opening weekend, Sony extended the film’s two-week theatrical release for an additional three weeks domestically and one to three weeks in overseas territories.
A year earlier, Disney’s Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour broke records opening to $31.1 million in North America on Super Bowl weekend as young girls flooded theaters. The photo grossed $65.8 million domestically and $70.6 million worldwide.
And Trafalgar’s earlier this year BTS: Has yet to hit theaters earned more than $53 million worldwide in a limited theatrical event.
AMC Theaters — the world’s largest exhibitor — staged a coup by grabbing the distribution rights to Taylor Swfit’s concert photo, which insiders say caught the attention of multiple Hollywood studios. It’s unorthodox for a mega-theatre circuit to distribute a movie, and AMC is working with indie distributor Variance to book the movie into competing movie theaters.
“Everyone is going to want to play this movie,” says an owner of a smaller theater circuit, though he fears AMC venues could get the upper hand if they are close by.
AMC’s presale for the Taylor Swift: The Eras tour concert film grossed a record $26 million within the first 24 hours. The previous crown holder had $16.9 million in first day ticket sales for 2021 Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021. The mega-exhibitor says it will hold a minimum of four showtimes per day on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at every AMC location in the US.
Swift’s Eras Tour – which kicked off in Arizona in March this year – sparked record demand for tickets and broke world records in attendance and concert tour revenue.
Hollywood studios began rearranging their October calendars within hours of Swift announcing the concert film on social media. Universal and Blumhouse were the first to blink in accelerating the release of The exorcist: believer from October 13 to October 6 (the horror photo needs younger females). “Look what you made me do. The Exorcist: Believer moves to 10/6/23,” producer Jason Blum wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on August 31, along with the hashtag #TaylorWins.
And on Sept. 1, Bleecker Street moved Meg Ryan’s romantic comedy What happens later from October 13 to November 3. “So we’re taking our time… Are you ready?” Bleecker Street tweeted. “Meg Ryan ends her 14-year rom-com hiatus and the #Megaissance begins with #WhatHappensLater, which is happening now… later. Only in cinemas from November 3.”
Book all exhibitors Eras tour are seeing great interest, not just AMC. “The record-breaking advance sales in our theaters in the United States Taylor Swift: The Eras tour showcases the incomparable joy that comes from recording incredible content in an immersive environment alongside friends, family and fellow fans,” said Wanda Gierhart Fearing, Cinemark’s chief marketing and content officer, in a statement. “The sensational appeal of her tour, which now continues through the exhibition, drove insane traffic to our website and app from the moment the tickets went on sale, and we are ready to have Swifties enchanted by this concert film in the unprecedented number of venues we have booked to meet the demand for the shared musical experience.”
The best of The Hollywood Reporter
Click here to read the full article.
