The Taylor Swift film sold $123.5 million worth of tickets worldwide over the weekend, slightly less than early box office estimates. That’s still a massive number for a concert film, and it puts the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour at the top of the list of highest-grossing concerts ever. The Taylor Swift film’s weekend tally was also the second-highest domestic opening for October.
Distributor AMC Theatres (AMC.N) released the final tally on Monday, although rival studios had reported the figure was closer to $94 million. The film had a wide release, playing on 3,855 screens in North America and debuting Thursday evening in most locations to take advantage of the star’s 350 million social media followers. The theater chain said it had a record audience for a concert movie, with many fans coming to see the film several times in one week.
The filmed version of the singer’s global stadium tour opened with $92.8 million in ticket sales in its first three days, falling short of AMC’s expectations for a $95 million to $97 million haul and analysts’ forecasts for a $100 million-plus start. However, the result is still a phenomenal success for a concert film that was announced just six weeks ago and made its way to the big screen with minimal promotion beyond Swift’s posting on her social media accounts.
Earlier this month, the pop star took a bold step into uncharted territory by bypassing significant studios to distribute the film on her own, partnering directly with AMC, the world’s largest cinema chain. The deal gives Swift a 57 percent cut of the overall profits from ticket sales, with AMC keeping a share and the theatres screening the film keeping the rest.
Swift and AMC announced plans to expand the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour film into Brazil, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong on Nov. 3 and dozens of other countries later this year. The movie will then be available on DVD and Blu-ray.
The film’s success may put pressure on other studios to follow suit in distributing their concert films. But AMC chief Tom Dergarabedian cautioned on CNBC that it’s common for outsized expectations to be attached to a movie with such a massive brand name.
The Taylor Swift concert film had the biggest opening ever for a live concert film and the highest-ever debut for a female music artist, surpassing Justin Bieber’s 2011 Never Say Never tour film, which made $97 million worldwide. The movie was helped because it competed against just a handful of other releases, including Todd Phillips’ Joaquin Phoenix film The Joker. Other movies in the top five included a romance starring Meg Ryan and Dumb Money and the faith-based dramedy Ordinary Angels. All titles changed their original release dates to avoid competing with Taylor Swift’s films.