Taylor Swift brought her record-breaking The Eras Tour concert to theaters last October, which earned $96 million dollars just on its opening weekend in the U.S., and may have revolutionized the entire film industry.
The Eras Tour concert film made history by collaborating directly with AMC theaters, sidelining major Hollywood studios entirely.
Movie producers will usually make deals with big-name Hollywood studios — think Universal, Paramount, and Disney — for costly pieces of movie-making, like marketing and distribution, and make a profit from the box office sales.
“The thing that AMC could offer the Swift family was urgency. They wanted to get this movie into theaters soon,” said Matthew Belloni, in an interview with CNBC, “ and when you deal with a major studio, there’s other movies to consider… with AMC, it was negotiating directly with the CEO.”
Belloni reported through Puck that Universal, due to having another movie scheduled for release on Oct. 13, declined to postpone it for Swift's concert film.
In response, Swift's father got in touch with AMC CEO Adam Aron, leading to a unique deal.
…Ready For It?
Taylor Swift is undeniably one of the most influential singer-songwriters of the 2010s, boasting 10 albums released between 2006 and 2022, and she continues to enjoy a highly successful career.
Swift has been making waves since her 2008 album ‘Fearless’ catapulted her to immense popularity.
“Honestly, I feel like Taylor Swift has been the soundtrack of my life… Every single album released has been a huge moment in my life,” Kelsey Donovan said, “I have so many memories attached to every album ‘era’ and in a way it feels like these albums define different parts of my life.”
The same year Fearless was released, Swift received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, made her debut at the Met Gala, and collaborated with the Jonas Brothers on their concert biopic ‘Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience’.
Now, her musical (and theatrical) projects break records regularly.
Most recently, The Eras Tour is expected to rank among the top-grossing tours ever, while Taylor Swift herself holds the record for the most streams by a single artist in one day on Spotify.
Taylor Swift: Hollywood’s Anti-Hero
Swift announced the film on her social media accounts on Aug. 31, posting the official trailer, and writing, “The Eras Tour has been the most meaningful, electric experience of my life so far and I’m overjoyed to tell you that it’ll be coming to the big screen soon. Starting Oct 13th you’ll be able to experience the concert film in theaters in North America! Eras attire, friendship bracelets, singing and dancing encouraged.”
The film isn’t just about the music — it’s the whole concert experience, right from your local theater.
Fans arrive in Taylor Swift-themed outfits representing their favorite eras, sing along, and trade friendship bracelets with each other as if they were seeing it live.
“The theatrical experience made me notice so many little details about the show that I never caught when seeing clips online… It was also really cool being in the theater with other Swifties, because walking around you could tell who was there to see the movie based on how they dressed in sparkles and tour merch.” said Sima Habach.
The Eras Tour concert film is a celebration of Taylor Swift’s journey throughout her career and the connections fans who've grown up with her have formed along the way.
Donovan followed up with, “Sometimes it feels like Taylor is an older sister figure to me… [Her] music emotionally connects with fans more deeply than other artists because her lyrics often tell the story of her life.”
Everything Has Changed
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour earned $33.2 million on its second theater weekend and as of Nov. 19, the domestic total for the film is around $240 million.
“People would come up to me and they’d be like, ‘You're gonna just like, do a show with all the albums in it?’” said Swift during the filmed show at So-Fi Stadium, “and I was like, ‘Yeah. It’s gonna be called The Eras Tour. See you there.’”
The profit from the film isn’t the only huge news post-release, as Swift’s move against Hollywood studios has inspired other artists of the same fame to make similar productions.
At the end of it all, Swift's independent box office success is simply karma.