The savior of fall cinema, box-office wise, will not be Scorsese tor Lanthimos, but rather Taylor Swift.
On Thursday, the “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” concert film will start screening in over 3,850 theaters and is being projected for a $100-120 million opening domestically. Those are staggering numbers that would only be equaled this year by “Barbie” and “Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3.”
Theater owners must be ecstatic about this, especially after the IMAX-driven “Dune: Part II” had to be moved to 2024. The Swift doc is bound to set cinemas, and social media, ablaze these next few weeks, much like ‘Barbenheimer’ did in the summer. Hey, I’m not complaining.
I kept asking publicists if there would be a press screening for the doc, but no, I was told they might screen it for the trades on Wednesday night and that’ll be it. No reviews to damper the momentum of this Taylor Swift concert doc, which has piqued my curiosity.
Swift’s doc is selling out many theaters around the country and has created delays at some exhibitor presale sites. One distribution expert told Deadline that the presales numbers are so big that they can be compared, and exceed, any of the major Marvel movies we’ve seen.
The total runtime for ‘The Eras Tour’ is 2 hours and 45 minutes. AMC is in brutal financial shape. This seems like a Hail Mary pass to save their business, especially with all of the fall movies that have already been delayed. It looks like the gamble has paid off.
These concert movies are not going to end with just Swift. Beyonce also made an agreement with AMC for her own concert film, “Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce,” set to hit theaters on December 1st. That one’s projected to open with $20-25 million.
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.