Topline
Taylor Swift has announced a movie filmed over the six nights of her Eras Tour concerts at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles will hit theaters this October, adding the already record-breaking tour to a list of documentary-style performance films that have brought in tens of millions of dollars for stars like Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry over the last two decades.
Taylor Swift performs onstage for night one of The Eras Tour July 07, 2023 in Kansas City, Missouri. … [+]
Key Facts
Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour is a 165-minute film that will be shown at least four times per day on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sundays at every AMC Theatre location in the United States—as well Cinemark and Regal locations in the U.S., Cineplex in Canada and Cinepolis in Mexico—starting Oct. 13, the singer announced Thursday.
The trailer for the film shows Swift explaining the tour—which includes music from all 10 of her albums released over 17 years—alongside video of the performances and fan reaction to what she called the “most meaningful, electric experience of my life so far.”
The movie is produced by Swift’s in-house tour production company and directed by Sam Wrench, who also made Billie Eilish: Live at the O2—it grossed $1.3 million domestically in its three-day release in January—and HBO-released Lizzo: Live in Concert.
Tickets went on sale for the Eras Tour film Thursday morning and fans were already inundating theaters—there was a nine minute wait to buy tickets on AMC’s website at 11 a.m. and the company said it “has upgraded its website and ticketing engines to handle more than five times the largest influx of ticket-buying traffic the company has ever experienced before.”
The Eras Tour is expected to bring in a record-breaking $1.4 billion when it ends in August 2024, potentially pushing Swift into billionaire status, and the film stands to make her even more money: The Justin Bieber: Never Say Never movie, which released in 2011, currently holds the record for the highest-grossing concert film with a $73 million lifetime gross, according to Box Office Mojo.
Michael’s Jackson’s This Is It made $72 million after its 2009 release, followed by the Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert movie that made $65 million in 2008 and Eddie Murphy: Raw, a stand-up comedy film that released in 1987, made $50.5 million.
Other popular musical acts who’ve turned their concerts into documentary-style tour films include One Direction (This Is Us made $28.8 million in 2013), Part of Me (Katy Perry’s movie earned $25.3 million in 2012) and Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience earned $19 million with its 2009 release.
Taylor Swift performs onstage for the opening night of The Eras Tour” in Glendale, Arizona.
Surprising Fact
Shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc were up 2.5% after the announcement, trading at $13.07 per share as of 12 p.m. Thursday.
Forbes Valuation
Forbes listed Swift as the third-richest self-made woman under 40 with an estimated $740 million net worth as of June 1. She will get a cut of ticket sales from all her Eras Tour performances—originally announced at 52 dates and later expanded to 146 across five continents—and merchandise sales.
Big Number
3.5 million. That’s how many people Ticketmaster says pre-registered to buy tickets to the Eras Tour, the largest registration in history. The Ticketmaster site crashed during the pre-sale ticket drop for the tour and, after hours-long wait times and oversold tickets, the company temporarily suspended sales and ultimately canceled a scheduled public sale.
Taylor Swift performs onstage during the The Eras Tour at Foro Sol on August 24, 2023 in Mexico … [+] City, Mexico.
Key Background
Concert films are typically filmed in a documentary style and include live performance footage and direct interviews, unlike the rash of musical biopics to hit screens in recent years including Rocketman, Bohemian Rhapsody and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, where the musicians and other characters are played by actors. The rise of the concert film genre is said to have started with Concert Magic, released in 1948, which featured violinist Yehudi Menuhin performing with various artists at the Charlie Chaplin Studios the year before. The genre expanded with T.A.M.I. Show, a 1964 movie about a Santa Monica Civic Auditorium concert that featured Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones, and 1964 movie Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii in 1972. Pop stars brought the genre to a young millennial audience with Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert in 2008 and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never in 2011. The later pop star was just 16 when the 3-D film—produced by Bieber and his manager Scooter Braun—was released at the height of the Belieber era, and it remains the highest-grossing concert film to date. Katy Perry, the Jonas Brothers, U2, Neil Young and the Glee cast all released concert movies between 2006 and 2012. The most recent release of a big-time tour movie—BTS World Tour: Love Yourself in Seoul— earned $3.5 million from its 2019 release.
Singer Justin Bieber arrives at the premiere of Paramount Pictures’ “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” … [+] held on February 8, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.
Further Reading
How The Eras Tour Could Boost Taylor Swift’s Net Worth (Forbes)
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Tops Springsteen For Biggest 2023 Tour (Forbes)
Taylor Swift Changes Controversial ‘Better Than Revenge’ Lyric On ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ (Forbes)
