READY FOR IT? SWIFT'S FILM GROSSES $92.8M
After just three days of screenings, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour becomes the top-grossing concert film in the U.S. with $92.8m, surpassing the $73m Justin Bieber: Never Say Never raked in in 2011.
Internationally, the film brought in $30.7m from 94 international markets, taking her worldwide tally to $123.5m.
It may take a couple of weekends to top the global record currently held by the 2009 Michael Jackson pic This Is It, which grossed $261.18m worldwide.
Taylor Swift’s film far surpassed the biggest opening for a concert movie, the previous record holder being the $31.1m made by Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert in 2008.
IMAX reported that Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’s $13m global debut on 613 screens made it the largest IMAX opening for a concert or documentary film by a musical artist.
It is the second biggest October opening on record, behind only Joker, which grossed $96.2m in 2019. Eras Tour's gross represented 70% of the entire box office in the States.
Obviously all the record-setting owes to Swift’s unique popularity. But she may have also created a new working blueprint for Hollywood to possibly explore.
By aligning with AMC, she bypassed the traditional distribution system and put more money into her pocket. She also shortened the window between announcement and release date, which also led to significant savings in marketing and advertising costs.
Via her instructions to fans, theaters were turned into concert venues where cell phone usage, singing along and celebrating were encouraged. And she set ticket prices based on numbers that meant something to her: $19.89 for adults and $13.13 for kids. (If you don’t know those numbers and how they relate to Tay-Tay, boy have you not been paying attention).
Of course, there’s only one Taylor Swift. But she delivered significant box office results in a month that most studios and theaters use for horror films and ginning up interest in the November-December blockbusters and prestige releases vying for awards.
Here's your weekend box office.
- Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (AMC): $96m total; 3,855 screens/$24,902 average per screen (Debut)
- The Exorcist: Believer (Universal): $11m total; 3,684 screens/$2,985 average per screen (Week 2)
- PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie (Paramount): $7m total; 3,707 screens/$1,888 average per screen (Week 3)
- Saw X (Lionsgate): $5.7m total; 3,058 screens/$1,863 average per screen (Week 3)
- The Creator (Disney): $4.3m total; 2,960 screens/$1,452 average per screen (Week 3)
