No matter what Taylor Swift decides to do, it makes waves. Tickets for her Eras Tour concert film sold for thousands of dollars on the secondary market and sparked lawsuits against Ticketmaster. Over the weekend, The Eras Tour had a massive opening weekend. More impressively, it did so without a major distributor or advertising.
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Swift is more than a world-class entertainer and songwriter. She’s also a shrewd businesswoman. Her team produced The Eras Tour and partnered with AMC theaters to screen it. Additionally, the “Anti-Hero” singer made sure that the majority of the film’s box office earnings went into her bank account. Indie Wire reports that she negotiated a 57% cut of the earnings. Usually, that cut would go to the film’s distributor. Additionally, she set the ticket price at $19.89 before taxes.
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After its opening weekend, The Eras Tour brought in around $125 million internationally. It earned $92.8 million domestically, per CNBC. This makes it the second-highest-grossing October release behind The Joker (2019). However, the concert film opened on fewer screens than The Joker and didn’t have Friday screenings before 6 p.m.
The Eras Tour did more than rake in an impressive box office gross in its opening weekend. It also temporarily disrupted the film industry, according to Indie Wire. The publication reports that several films including The Exorcist: Believer changed their release dates because they couldn’t compete with the buying power of an army of Swifties.
What Happens Later, a romantic comedy starring Meg Ryan, Dumb Money, a dramedy centered around Game Stop, and Ordinary Angels, a faith-based film featuring Hillary Swank also changed their release dates to avoid competition with Swift.
Jason Blum, director of the current Exorcist reboot/sequel tweeted about the film’s changed release date with the hashtag #TaylorWins.
More than that, The Eras Tour may spark long-term changes in the film distribution landscape. Ray Nutt, CEO of Fathom Events spoke to Indie Wire about those changes. “Our phone’s been ringing off the hook from content providers, because, ‘Oh! We can do something besides a traditional film in movie theaters?’” Nutt added, “Honest to God, after being in the industry this long, when you have something this big, it’s gonna translate to good things.”
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