Taylor Swift Just Made Box Office History With The Eras Tour
Taylor Swift is continuing to demonstrate her tremendous star power as the best-selling, Grammy-winning artist just made history at the box office. Last weekend, "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" debuted with a monster $92.8 million opening weekend, instantly giving her the highest-grossing concert film, domestically, in history. Her film managed to stay on top in its second weekend making it the first concert film in history to top the charts for two consecutive weekends.
In its second weekend, "The Eras Tour" took in $33.2 million domestically, per The Numbers. Yes, that represents a pretty steep 64% drop compared to its first weekend, but concert films, historically, have not been week-to-week draws for general audiences. The fact that Swift had more than enough in the tank to beat out Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon," which opened to $23.2 million, is impressive. Swift's film version of her blockbuster tour has now earned $131.9 million domestically to go with $46.7 million from international audiences for a running total of $178.7 million. Given its reported $20 million budget, this is already a home run.
There are a few unique factors at play with the release. For one, Swift cut a deal directly with AMC Theatres, with the exhibitor handling distribution. This is highly unusual but, given that Beyonce is doing something similar with AMC in December, it may become a normal occurrence — no matter how much Hollywood studios dislike it. "The Eras Tour" also has a premium ticket price of $19.89 for adult tickets, which is quite a bit more than a typical movie ticket. Most interesting of all, there are no showings of the film Monday through Wednesday, as Swift wants to facilitate a communal, concert-like experience as best as possible.
Can Taylor Swift beat Michael Jackson's record?
It's hard to know if the lack of weekday showtimes is helping or hurting matters. Are audiences patiently awaiting the opportunity to see the film on a weekend? Or is money being left on the table? Whatever the case, nobody is crying for Swift or AMC here. Exhibitors who are booking the film had to agree to carry it for at least four weekends, meaning "The Eras Tour" should see even more dough rolling in for a couple of weeks. "Five Nights at Freddy's" figures to easily take the top spot this upcoming weekend, which will end Swift's reign at the top.
One of the few remaining questions is when "The Eras Tour" will overtake Michael Jackson's "This Is It" to become the highest-grossing concert film worldwide in history, unadjusted for inflation. Jackson's documentary hit theaters in 2009 and took in $261 million worldwide. Even with the big second-weekend drop-off, it's all but assured that Swift will eclipse that mark before the film's run is over. Especially because the film has yet to be released in several key markets, including Brazil, India, South Korea, and Hong Kong. Come early November, "The Eras Tour" will see another influx of overseas ticket sales which will assuredly put it over the top, if it hasn't hit that total already.
"Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" is in theaters now.