‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ Concert Movie Now Seeing $65 Million+ In Presales; $100M Box Office Opening Within Reason

EXCLUSIVE: Sources tell us that advance tickets sales for the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert movie have reached $65 million-plus. That’s a figure comprising the top three U.S. circuits — AMC, Regal and Cinemark — Canada’s Cineplex and Mexico’s Cinépolis.

That figure, which comes a a month before its October 13 opening, already bests the U.S.-Canada advance ticket sales of mega-superhero movies including Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($60M) and The Batman ($42M). Those numbers were clocked just prior to those movies’ respective opening dates. The Eras Tour still trails the pandemic presales record of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which banked $120M before its opening day.

Many distribution sources tell us that they would not be shocked by a $100M opening for The Eras Tour. The question is how front-loaded the movie will be given the tendency of female moviegoers to show up in packs for initial showtimes. Also, will be there repeat business like Barbie?

Still, if this movie does north of $70M, that would be remarkable for a concert film. Already, the Swifties turnout is set to bury the entire domestic runs of previous concert movies including Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert ($65.2M in 2008), Justin Bieber: Never Say Never ($73M in 2011) and Michael Jackson’s This Is It ($72M in 2009).

As we’ve reported, several studios spotted a Marvel-sized tsunami at the fall box office and moved out of the way of the AMC-distributed concert film, which kicks off with previews October 12. The Eras Tour is scheduled to play four weekends in a row (not weekdays), but including Tuesday, Halloween night. Any rival features that lose showtimes on the weekend hope to make that time up during the week when Swift is off the screen.

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As we reported out of the Toronto Film Festival, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said The Eras Tour received a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement, which means Swift feasibly could promote the movie. What stunts does she have planned? Mum is still the word as to whether she appears at some theaters on opening weekend or participates in some live Q&A a la the Talking Heads reunion out of TIFF for the 40th anniversary of A24’s Stop Making Sense, which grossed more than $640,000 at 165 Imax locations. That set a record as the large-format exhibitor’s biggest live event ever.

As my mother-in-law says, “There’s no such thing as a coincidence”: Swift is on a break from her Eras Tour and won’t resume live shows until November 9 in Buenos Aires.