Photo Credit: Paolo Villanueva / CC by 2.0
Taylor Swift’s in-theater concert pre-sales now top $150 globally, with opening night sellouts beating out ‘Barbie.’
Swifties can’t wait to see their idol on the silver screen. Taylor Swift’s in-theater concert film has already raked in over $100 million in domestic pre-sales, with another $50 million internationally, according to data from EntTelligence. In terms of sheer opening night sellouts, that’s more than Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film.
EntTelligence data shows over 4,200 showtimes sold out, out of 13,000 available showtimes, equivalent to 32% — a massive amount compared to Barbie’s 500. Barbie’s opening weekend raked in $162 million, with $70.5 million from night-before previews. Taylor Swift’s concert film will launch on her lucky day of Friday the 13th, with the first shows at 6 PM, so Thursday night previews are a no-go.
Top-selling cities for the concert film are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia — unsurprising, as these are predominantly the most populous cities in the United States, and thus have a larger swath of theaters showing the film.
Analysts are not expecting Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour to outshine films like Barbie and Spider-Man: No Way Home (which opened with $260.1 million and Thursday night previews of $121.9 million), especially with the limited run of theaters releasing it compared to blockbuster studio films. Still, the revenue is impressive for a niche event like an in-theater concert film — even if the power of Taylor Swift is anything but niche.
Taylor Swift priced tickets for the Eras Tour film at $19.89 and $13.13 for some obvious references for her fans, but EnTelligence shows the actual market average for movie tickets at $20.82 for general admission, $14.16 for a child’s ticket, and $14.42 for seniors.
AMC Theatres distributed the film with help from several sub-distributors throughout North America and Europe. According to AMC, last week Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film had already made over $100 million in global advance ticket sales, although the exhibitor has not revealed the exact number of theaters.