By Theo A. Katz
With Taylor Swift’s first North American leg of her Eras Tour coming to a close, she recently announced the upcoming release of her concert movie, “The Eras Tour: Concert Film”. This will be her second concert turned film after her Reputation Tour, “Taylor Swift Reputation Stadium Tour”, hit screens worldwide in 2018.
Swift is one of the most world-renowned artists with her pop music, electric concerts and overall fan impact. Throughout her tour, she has been announcing new albums. For example, on May 5, she announced “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” in Nashville, TN, and “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” on Aug. 9 in Los Angeles, CA.
Her stadium tour has set multiple records and was recently acclaimed for boosting the country’s economy.
“Each city she has performed in has seen a boost in revenue from the hundreds of thousands of attendees who traveled from near and far,” said Time writersJeannie Kopstein and Mariah Espada,. “Swifties are dropping an estimated $1,300 to $1,500 on outfits, costumes, merchandise, dining, and travel, boosting local economies by hundreds of millions of dollars in one weekend.”
Swift’s tour is also generating billions of dollars for economies across the globe. For fans who attended the tour, they were exposed to the popularity Swift brought to their cities. For example, merchandise lines reached miles, Ticketmaster’s website crashed due to the internet traffic for tickets and hotel rooms sold out within hours.
Cinemark’s website also crashed due to the films ticket sales.
“Her tour’s sensational attraction, which is now continuing cross-exhibition, drove frenzied traffic to our website and app the moment tickets went on sale, and we are ready for Swifties to be enchanted by this concert film in the unprecedented number of auditoriums we have booked to meet the demand for the shared, music experience,” said Wanda Gierhard Fearing, chief marketing and content officer of Cinemark.
The Eras Tour is set to conclude in Nov. of 2024 and is projected to generate roughly $5 billion in consumer spending, according to Time.
The announcement of the film swiftly brought in millions of dollars in ticket sales.
“Single-day advance ticket sales have broken all-time single-day records with $26 million in sales sold on August 31,” said Krystal Hur, CNN writer. “Adult tickets set at $19.89, a call to her 1989 album, and children and seniors tickets priced at $13.13, a call to Swift’s favorite number, 13”.
Set to be a cultural phenomenon, movie-goers can expect heavy similarities to the concert.
“The movie basically functions as an overflow room for the concert,” said Jonathan Kuukoski, chair of the entrepreneurship and leadership department at the University of Michigan.
Although viewers of the movie will not be a part of the same stadium atmosphere, they can expect a similar atmosphere as part of a theater audience.
“I think that the atmosphere will be very similar. Personally, a part of what made the Tampa show such a wonderful experience, aside from Taylor’s incredible talent, was how enthusiastic the crowd was,” said Roman Campbell, The University of Tampa graduate and attendee of the Eras Tour. “I have a feeling that energy will be just as high for the film”
Oct. 2023 is set to be a big month for Hollywood films, with the anticipated releases of “What Happens Later”, and “The Exorcist: Believer”, all set for release at or around the same time as Swift’s motion picture.
According to TheHollywoodReporter, Hollywood studios began rearranging their October calendars in anticipation of possible movie theater overflow for “The Eras Tour: Concert Film”. “What Happens Later” switched its release date from Oct. 13 to Nov. 3, while “The Exorcist: Believer” is now released on Oct. 6.