MOVIE theaters turned into concert venues this weekend as Swifties brought their dance moves and friendship bracelets to multiplexes across the United States and beyond. This unparalleled enthusiasm helped propel "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" to a massive, first-place debut between $95 million and $97 million in North America, AMC Theaters said on Sunday.
It's easily the biggest opening for a concert film of all time, and, not accounting for inflation, has made more than the $73 million "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" earned in 2011. In today's dollars, that would be about $102 million. And if it comes in on the higher end of projections when totals are released on Monday, it could be the biggest October opening ever. The one to beat is "Joker," which debuted to $96.2 million in 2019.
A unique experiment in distribution, premium pricing, star power and loose movie theater etiquette — more dancing and shouting than a Star Wars premiere — have made it an undeniable hit. Compiled from Swift's summer shows at southern California's SoFi Stadium, the film opened in 3,855 North American locations starting with "surprise" Thursday evening previews. Those showtimes helped boost its opening day sum to $39 million — the second biggest ever for October, behind "Joker's" $39.3 million.
Internationally, it's estimated to have earned somewhere between $31 and $33 million, bringing its global total to between $126 million and $130 million.
"This is a phenomenal number," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. "To have a blockbuster-style opening weekend for a concert film is unprecedented."
Swift, who produced the film, went around the Hollywood studio system to distribute the film, making a deal directly with AMC, the largest exhibition company in the US. With her 274 million Instagram followers, Swift hardly needed a traditional marketing campaign to get the word out.
Beyoncé made a similar deal with the exhibitor for "Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé," which will open on December 1. The two superstars posed together at the premiere of "The Eras Tour" earlier this week in Los Angeles. It was a needed injection of star power with Hollywood actors over 90 days into a strike that has left most red carpets void of glamourous talent and resulted in several high-profile films being pushed to next year.
Directed by Sam Wrench, "The Eras Tour" is not just playing on AMC screens either. The company, based in Leawood, Kansas, worked with sub-distribution partners Variance Films, Trafalgar Releasing, Cinepolis and Cineplex to show the film in more than 8,500 movie theatres globally in 100 countries.
The spotlight on Swift has been especially intense lately as a result of her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. The two made separate surprise appearances on "Saturday Night Live" this weekend and were also photographed holding hands in New York.
It led to some hyperbolic projections going into the weekend, with some analysts predicting that "The Eras Tour" could make over $125 million. Dergarabedian said it's common for outsized expectations to be attached to massive brands like Swift. There's also no precedent for something like "The Eras Tour" and a celebrity of Swift's stature.
"The laws of gravity don't apply to Taylor Swift," Dergarabedian said.
Hit with moviegoers, critics
The film scored well with both critics and audiences, who gave it an A+ CinemaScore, a metric that typically signals a film will continue to do well after its first weekend.
Elizabeth Frank, AMC executive vice president of worldwide programming and chief content officer, said in a statement they were grateful to Taylor Swift.
"Her spectacular performance delighted fans, who dressed up and danced through the film," Frank said. "With tremendous recommendations and fans buying tickets to see this concert film several times, we anticipate 'Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour' concert film playing to big audiences for weeks to come."
The stadium tour, which continues internationally, famously crashed Ticketmaster's site and resale prices became astronomical. Pollstar projects it will earn some $1.4 billion. The concert film offered fans both better seats and a much more affordable way to see the show for the first or fifth time. Prices are higher than the national average, at $19.89, which references her birth year and 2014 album, and ran closer to $29 a pop for premium large format screens like IMAX.
Showtimes are also more limited than a standard Hollywood blockbuster, but AMC is guaranteeing at least four a day on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at all AMC locations in the US. Many locations also specified that there are no refunds or exchanges. And fans will have to wait a while for "The Eras Tour" to be available on streaming — part of the AMC deal was a 13-week exclusive theatrical run.
Michael O'Leary, CEO of the National Association of Theater Owners said in a statement the moment was "another landmark weekend for cinemas."
"This year has been marked by unprecedented experiences for movie lovers in theaters across this nation," he added. "The 'Eras Tour' debut proves, yet again, that fans are eager to share other experiences in a communal way, with theater owners working creatively to build memorable moments in their cinemas."
O'Leary said a survey of 6,000 people by his organization and The Cinema Foundation found that 72 percent want to see more concert films on the big screen.
"The Eras Tour" accounted for over 70 percent of the total weekend box office grosses. "The Exorcist: Believer" placed a very distant second in its second weekend with $11 million, followed by the "Paw Patrol" movie in third with $7 million. Rounding out the top five was "Saw X" with $5.7 million and "The Creator" with $4.3 million.
"This is great news for theaters," Dergarabedian said. "'The Eras Tour' wasn't even on our radar in mid-August. You take this out of the equation and it would have been a totally different weekend."
Top 10 films: 1) "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour," $95 to $97 million; 2) "The Exorcist: Believer," $11 million; 3) "Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie," $7 million; 4) "Saw X," $5.7 million; 5) "The Creator," $4.3 million; 6) "A Haunting in Venice," $2.1 million; 7) "The Blind," $2 million; 8) "The Nun 2," $1.6 million; 9) "The Equalizer 3," $960,000; 10) "Dumb Money," $920,000.