Taylor Swift.
How do you top a billion-dollar tour that’s still in progress? Release a concert film of the experience while shattering records, if you’reTaylor Swift.
This weekend,The Eras Tour Concert Film, which compiles footage from the pop star’s August shows in Los Angeles, hit theaters across the country and raked in an estimated $95-$97 million at the box office, making it the highest-grossing concert film in history, according to AMC Theatres Distribution. (Final figures will come on Monday.)
The film also scored an impressive A+ Cinemascore and a 100 percent fresh rating onRottenTomatoes.com.
That’s “a blockbuster-style opening domestic weekend,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore.
Swift shattered opening records for a concert film, AMC added, noting thatJustin Bieber’sNever Say Neverconcert film grossed $73 million total over the course of its 2011 domestic run.
“This is a huge win for Taylor Swift and her family,” says Matthew Belloni, who first reported the terms of Swift’s theatrical deal in his newsletter,Puck.
Theaters even agreed to set Swiftian prices for tickets: $19.89 (plus tax) for standard adult tickets and $13.13 for children and seniors (plus tax).
Taylor Swift performs onstage in March in Arizona on the Eras tour.John Shearer/Getty
John Shearer/Getty
Meanwhile, Hollywood has been in knots over the lost opportunity. Instead of selling rights toThe Eras Tour Concert Filmto a movie studio, which would traditionally distribute the film to movie theaters and take a cut of the profits, Swift — and her parents, Andrea and Scott, Puck reported — cut out the middleman and brokered a deal with AMC that was “overwhelmingly favorable to the Swift family,” says Belloni.
Like her sold-out global tour, the demand for theErasconcert film is staggering: Prior to release, AMC announced the film had sold more than $100 million in advance tickets globally, with the movie set to debut in 90 countries.
Taylor Swift performing her Eras Tour in Tennessee in May.John Shearer/TAS23/Getty
John Shearer/TAS23/Getty
The Beyhive is next in line for a silver screen bonanza. On Dec. 1, Beyonce will also release her concert film,Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé,directly to theaters via AMC Entertainment. In a notable show of solidarity, the two superstars posed together at Swift’s L.A. premiere Wednesday.
This marks a unique moment in film history, says Jeff Bock, senior box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations Co.
“Successful concert films are one of the rarest events in the theatrical community. It just doesn’t happen very often — maybe once a decade,” he says. “And now we’re getting two of these films back-to-back with both expected not only be very successful but start a new cinematic trend.”
source: people.com
