Taylor Swift has announced that a movie filmed during her Eras Tour concerts at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles will be released in theaters this October. This move follows a trend of documentary-style performance films that have been successful for artists like Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, and Katy Perry over the past two decades.
The film, titled Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour, will run for 165 minutes and will be shown at least four times per day at select theaters across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The trailer for the film showcases Swift explaining the tour and includes footage of her performances and fan reactions.
The movie is produced by Swift's in-house tour production company and directed by Sam Wrench, who previously directed Billie Eilish: Live at the O2 and Lizzo: Live in Concert. Tickets for the Eras Tour film went on sale on Thursday and there was a high demand, with fans inundating theaters and causing wait times on ticketing websites.
The Eras Tour itself is expected to bring in a record-breaking $1.4 billion by the time it concludes in August 2024. The film has the potential to further increase Swift's earnings, as concert films have historically been successful at the box office. The current highest-grossing concert film is Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, which earned $73 million. Other popular concert films include One Direction: This Is Us, Katy Perry: Part of Me, and Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience.
Shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc rose 2.5% following the announcement of the Eras Tour film. Forbes estimates Swift's net worth to be $740 million as of June 1, making her the third-richest self-made woman under 40. She will receive a portion of ticket sales and merchandise sales from her tour.
Concert films have a long history, with the genre expanding in the 1960s and 1970s with movies like T.A.M.I. Show and Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii. Pop stars like Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber brought the genre to a younger audience in the 2000s, and artists like Katy Perry, U2, and Neil Young also released concert films during that time.
Overall, the release of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour film is expected to be a lucrative venture for the singer and follows a successful trend in the concert film genre.