AMC is bringing “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” movie to theaters next month, and the anticipation is hot. According to figures from Deadline, presale figures on tickets for the movie are huge, with ticket pre-sales estimated at over $37 million from the three major theater chains: AMC, Regal, and Cinemark, in the first 24 hours of ticket sales. That’s a higher number of ticket pre-sales on Day 1 than “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which sold $20 million worth of tickets on the opening day of pre-sales.
The Taylor Swift concert film is currently looking at a projected opening weekend figure of a reported $70 million. That’s just a projection, so the final figure could be even higher. The ticket pre-sales reportedly account for about fifty percent of the film’s opening weekend box office. It’s noted that female-skewing releases are typically front-loaded, and “The Eras Tour” is drawing a huge crowd of Swift fans, or Swifties, as they’re nicknamed.
Live concert tickets for Swift’s music tour have been very hard to obtain, which has only raised the demand for the big-screen version of the tour. The movie is also scheduled to debut during a break for her music tour. This could be a record-breaking opening and become the highest-grossing concert movie release of all time.
Currently, Miley Cyrus has the highest opening weekend record for a music concert film with “Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert,” which opened to $31 million in 2008, finishing with $65 million domestically. Justin Bieber came in second for the opening for “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,” at $29.5 million, but it has the highest domestic total at $73 million.
Producer Jason Blum and Univeral Pictures were so concerned about “The Eras Tour” that the release date for Universal’s “The Exorcist: Believer,” a direct sequel to the 1973 horror classic, was moved from October 13, away from Swift’s film, to instead open on October 6. The film’s producer, Blum of Blumhouse Productions, even joked on Twitter, “Look what you made me do. The Exorcist: Believer moves to 10/6/23 #TaylorWins.”
Look what you made me do.
The Exorcist: Believer moves to 10/6/23#TaylorWins
— Jason Blum (@jason_blum) August 31, 2023
Clearly, some major film releases want to stay clear of “The Eras Tour” right now and play it on the safe side since the concert film is expected to take up a lot of moviegoers’ attention and ticket sales that weekend. As for Swift, she’ll be resuming “The Eras Tour” later in November in Argentina and Brazil. She’s to continue her tour overseas next year, and she won’t be back for shows in North America until October 2024. This means that Swift is potentially free up when “The Eras Tour” debuts in theaters next month.
AMC is distributing the movie, directed by Sam Wrench, through Variance Films Booking. The film chain drew $26 million from those first-day pre-sales, which is a record for AMC, surpassing another huge blockbuster, “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” As noted by Deadline, the MCU sequel had $16.9 million on its first day of ticket pre-sales for AMC.
It looks like Swift is not only going to take over concert stadiums across the globe but movie theaters as well. “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” opens in theaters on October 13.