After dominating the world with her U.S. leg of the “Eras Tour,” Taylor Swift brought her concert into theaters across the globe.
This movie created another spike in the economy, with the movie grossing over $96 million at the box office and $32 million in international sales over its first three days in the theater, according to CNN. The movie was announced in August and has weekend-to-weekend release dates, bringing ‘Swifties’ around the world to fight their way to a ticket.
Swift originally made a direct and exclusive deal with AMC theaters, but with the movie’s rapidly growing popularity in presales, AMC expanded and gave rights to other theaters. Tickets were $19.89 as an homage to her birthday and album. The self-produced movie came out at the peak of all the news about her and Travis Kelce, enlarging the audience to football fans as well. Still, nearly 80% of the 4.8 million person audience over the opening weekend was female, according to CNBC. Before the concert film even came out, it became the highest-grossing concert film released domestically, and “is also the widest-released concert film in history, arriving in more than 3,850 domestic locations during its debut,” CNBC said.
Due to the popularity of the original concert and the Ticketmaster scandal, many fans lost their fight in the hunt to get tickets. This movie release provided these fans with a close-up experience with similar energy as Swift asked for people to be up singing and dancing. “‘Eras gives fans who couldn’t score a ticket a chance to sing, dance, dress up, and swap homemade Eras bracelets with other Swifties. The movie, directed by Sam Wrench, is nearly three hours long and was filmed over three nights at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles this summer. It took less than 24 hours for the Taylor Swift The Eras Tour concert film to shatter AMC’s US record for the highest ticket-sales revenue during a single day in AMC’s 103-year history,’ AMC said at the time,” CNN said.
The movie doesn’t have the extras Swift brings to each concert, but it provides the best possible view of the show. Fans were able to view her closer than they ever could and feel the effects her outfits had on the emotions portrayed by her songs. Junior Lainey Berman said, “I liked being able to see all her songs up close and see what the set looked like during each song. After seeing the concert in person, I loved viewing all the small details and seeing the concert from a completely different perspective. It was also great to reminisce, as the concert is one of my best high school memories.”
In contrast, freshman Claire Spivak said, “I went to the live concert and it doesn’t compare to the movie. The movie is awesome but seeing her live is a whole different experience. She talks more to the crowd and is more silly in person. I loved the movie but I wish she was more herself when filming. She loves to make a lot of jokes and she doesn’t say silly things like she normally does in a live concert. They cut some of the best parts out.”
The main aspect of the film that disappointed the fans was the fact that several popular songs were cut out including “The Archer,” “Cardigan,” “Wildest Dreams,” and “No Body No Crime.” Luckily, Swift reimbursed the fans with bonus titles including the 10-minute version of “All to Well” – a popular song since its release in the rereleased Red album in 2021 – as well as “Our Song” and “You’re On Your Own, Kid.”
Still, the movie was an engaging and special experience for fans. Junior Lyla Dinallo said, “My favorite part was trading bracelets with everyone and watching my little brother having just as much fun as I was. We were trading bracelets and singing and dancing and dressed up. It was a great alternative for people who weren’t able to go to the concert, and for those who did to relive the experience. I loved that my brother was able to come along this time.”
