In its opening weekend alone, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert movie took its rightful place as one of the biggest films of the year. Box office stats have confirmed that the movie grossed $123.5 million worldwide between Thursday and Sunday, according to Variety. Already, the movie is the highest-grossing concert movie of all time, surpassing Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never (2011), as well as the second biggest opening weekend ever in October, just shy of Joker (2019).
If you’re hoping to catch the movie in theaters, you’ll have to wait until the following week — as part of Taylor Swift’s exclusive deal with AMC and Cinemark theaters, the movie only screens on weekends. This seems like an odd decision for a fanbase as huge as Taylor’s, especially when a recorded version of her Eras Tour concerts is basically a license to print money.
What’s up with the weekend-only screenings?
According to Variety, the marketing around The Eras Tour movie wants to replicate that genuine concert feeling as much as possible. This means a full house and an enthusiastic crowd singing along, dancing, dressing up, and perhaps most importantly of all, exchanging friendship bracelets. Weekday evenings and matinees tend to have a sleepier vibe with smaller audiences, making it harder to recreate the electric feel of live music.
On the contrary, The Daily Mail claims that The Eras Tour movie is being restricted to weekends because of the enthusiasm of her fans, with many Swifties keen to rewatch as much as humanly possible. Rather than creating a concert atmosphere, the tabloid outlet claims that Swift’s motivation to stick to weekends was the singer-songwriter “insisting she wanted her young fans to concentrate on their homework.”
If true, teachers and parents of the world can rejoice, safe in the knowledge that kids aren’t going to play truant in order to hang out with Taylor instead, which certainly sounds more fun than math.
The Eras Tour is expected to stay in theaters until at least November 20th, but consistent demand could mean that the film could stay in cinemas well into the new year, similar to Top Gun: Maverick’s seemingly permanent residency in theaters. If so, the movie may expand to screening all week long when kids are off school, such as the upcoming 2023 festive period.
It is likely that The Eras Tour will inevitably be available to rent or purchase for home viewing, either through a streaming service, or on DVD and Blu-ray for Swifties who enjoy collecting physical copies of her work. If that’s the case, good luck keeping rewatching to weekends after that.
