Taylor Swift performs onstage during at Ford Field on June 9, 2023 in Detroit, Michigan.
Scott Legato | TAS23 | Getty
Taylor Swift and AMC have collected the receipts and results are in: the Eras Tour concert film is the second-highest domestic opener of October ever.
The film tallied $92.8 million during its first three days in theaters, falling shy of AMC’s expectations, which forecasted a $95 million to $97 million haul, and box office analysts’ calls for a $100 million-plus opening.
Still, Swift’s theatrical debut is an infinite success, given its genre and the bounds of its release. The Eras Tour concert film has already shattered records and is prone to break just a few more before its run is finished.
Box office analysts admitted that their predictions were lofty, but told CNBC that the film was a “unicorn” within the theatrical world. No concert film had ever elicited such fervor so quickly for ticket sales or drummed up a lot demand with theater chains. There was also the bottom price for tickets, which were 40% higher than traditional movie releases. Experts suggested the film could see an even bigger bump in overall box office.
But, the film also had some headwinds to contend with. Thursday previews weren’t announced until lower than a day before tickets can be made available, and Friday showings didn’t start until 6 p.m. local time. This meant that many audience members had likely already secured tickets to see the film later within the weekend, and the film missed out on the business that early showings Friday could have generated.
So, the Eras Tour film snared just $2.8 million in last-minute Thursday night previews for a complete of $37.5 million on its opening day. Meanwhile, the very best October opening, Warner Bros.’ “Joker” from 2019, secured $13.3 million from Thursday previews, feeding a $39.3 million opening day. For the entire weekend, “Joker” scored $96.2 million domestically.
The third-highest October opening was Sony’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” from 2021, which snared $11.6 million from Thursday night previews resulting in a $37.4 million opening Friday.
Moreover, while Swift’s film arrived in 3,855 theaters, probably the most for any concert film, “Joker” opened in nearly 4,400 locations, in keeping with data from Comscore. “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” opened in 4,225 locations.
Going forward, comparisons between Swift’s film and other releases will likely be difficult, for the reason that Eras Tour is doing weekend-only engagements. This also makes predicting the film’s second week drop difficult, as there are not any close concert film comparisons and it’s unclear how the dearth of mid-week showings could impact foot traffic on the subsequent weekend. Typically, blockbuster-style releases drop between 50% and 70% of their second weekend.
The Eras Tour’s theatrical run is scheduled to finish Nov. 5.
AMC reported that the Eras Tour concert film tallied $123.5 million globally, putting it on pace to top the $262.5 million international haul of 2009’s “Michael Jackson’s This Is It.”