Taylor Swift has been a force to be reckoned with in the music industry for nearly 20 years and counting.
But year after year the pop superstar has shown to have a magic touch in just about any business venture she’s attached her name and face to, compliments of her wildly devoted Swifitie fan base.
Her latest big success, a concert film, is growing by the day, and it’s not even set to be released for another few weeks.
In the days after Swift announced her Eras Tour concert film would drop in theaters in the U.S. in October, pre-sale tickets have been selling so fast that theaters have already added additional showtimes to meet the growing demand, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In fact, the frenetic pace now has insiders and industry experts predicting that the film could open to $100 million in ticket sales based on fans who have already bought their tickets ahead of time.
Flexing her muscles: Industry experts are predicting Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour concert film will top $100 million in its opening weekend; the much-anticipated movie focuses on her three shows at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles this past August
Citing other expert sources, THR article did not rule out the possibility that the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour film could gross $150 million or more, and that’s just in the U.S. alone, against a budget said to be between $10-20 million.
Those kinds of numbers are bigger than many of the traditional films that are being released in recent years.
AMC, the company that won the rights to distribute the concert movie, reported that pre-sales brought in a staggering $26 million in the first 24 hours that tickets were made available.
The $26 million in pre-sales set a new benchmark for AMC, surpassing the previous record holder for resales in such a short period of time, Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), which raked in $16.9 million in first-day ticket sales.
At its current pace, the chief analyst at BoxOffice.com, Shawn Robbins, said he wouldn’t be surprised to see the film deliver the best opening of any film released in the fourth quarter, CNBC has reported.
To put things in perspective, Barbie, which is the biggest movie of the year, opened with $155 million at the worldwide box office in July. It has since gone on to break $1 billion just a few weeks later, and has now reached $1.405 billion against a budget of $128-145 million.
In an example of just how confident some moviemakers are that the Swift concert film stamp out the competition, two other movies that had been scheduled to be released the same weekend have moved their premiere dates.
The Swift film won’t be breaking any rules in connection to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes despite the Lover star being a member of the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
Taylor Swift announces concert film for hugely successful Eras Tour
Walk down memory lane: A homage to her 10 studio albums to date, The Eras Tour has been described by the singer-songwriter as a journey through all of her musical ‘eras’; the pop superstar is seen performing during one of her three shows in LA in August
Swiftie power: Swift, 33, has shown to have a magic touch in just about any business venture she’s attached her name and face to, which can be attributed to her wildly devoted fan base
She was granted a waiver by the unions because The Eras Tour filmed concert is unscripted and does has not have any actors or writers associated with it.
Initially, Swift tried to broker a deal for the concert film with major film studios, but ultimately she decided tos trike an unprecedented distribution agreement with AMC and Cinemark.
Directed by Sam Wrench and produced by Swift, the production focuses on Swift’s three shows at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles this past August, which is part of The Eras Tour that began back in March and is slated to run through November.
Taylor Swift stuns in black at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards
Coming: The Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film will premiere in theaters in the U.S., Canada and Mexico on October 13
A homage to her 10 studio albums to date, The Eras Tour has been described by the singer-songwriter as a journey through all of her musical ‘eras’.
In order to meet the growing demand and to avoid any kind of ticket drama, AMC is already planning to show the concert film at least four times a day on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays for several weekends.
The Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film is scheduled to hit theaters in the United States, Canada, and Mexico on October 13.
Having sold over 200 million records worldwide, Swift is one of the best-selling musicians, as well as being the most-streamed female artist on Spotify.
