How Taylor Swift beat Hollywood with record-setting Eras Tour movie

Bigger than Barbie? How Taylor Swift angered Hollywood’s elite as she cut out the middleman and went direct to AMC to distribute The Eras Tour movie – raking in $100M in presales

• Taylor Swift sidestepped major Hollywood studios and cut a deal directly with AMC Theaters to distribute The Eras Tour movie 
• Hollywood executives are furious about the deal – which was brokered by Swift’s mom and dad and could reshape the way producers distribute their movies
• Swift’s movie has already racked up presales of $100M and analysts say it’s on course for an opening weekend which could surpass Barbie’s $162M

Taylor Swift has already conquered the music industry – now she’s reshaping Hollywood.

Global presales for her concert movie Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour have reached a record-breaking $100 million – after she rejected involvement from major Hollywood studios and cut a distribution deal with AMC Theaters directly.

Swift’s mom and dad, Scott and Andrea Swift, thrashed out terms with AMC CEO Adam Aron during secret talks which lasted several weeks.

Typically, movie producers will recruit a big name studio for marketing and distribution – in exchange for a large chunk of the box office takings. But Swift and her family were reportedly disappointed by studios’ demands, so cut them out and went directly to AMC, the world’s largest theater chain.

And the decision is likely to prove highly profitable for Swift – as the enormous presale figures come alongside estimates of a $100 million for opening weekend on October 13. This year’s top grossing movie, Barbie, netted $162 million in its debut weekend.

The launch comes hot on the heels of her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs footballer Travis Kelce, which has tipped the perennial hype around Swift into all out hysteria.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour movie will launch in cinemas on October 13 after the singer and her family cut a deal with AMC Theaters which rejected a lucrative distribution deal for Hollywood studios

Swift’s movie has already racked up presales of $100M and analysts say it’s on course for an opening weekend which could surpass Barbie’s $162M (pictured: Margot Robbie as Barbie)

And Hollywood executives are said to be furious about the AMC deal, which could reshape how producers distribute their movies.

The movie signal that producers can go direct to theaters to distribute their work – and theater chains like AMC, still reeling from the damage caused by covid, can acquire big-name movies without needing a middle man.

In a further sign of the upheaval that comes when Hollywood is kept in the dark, the upcoming Exorcist movie has already had to change its release date after a clash with the Swift film.

Swift’s Eras Tour has already become a global phenomenon since it kicked off in March.

The 146-show tour, which will run until November 2024, smashed records for ticket sales (2.4 million in a single day) and is even credited with helping the global economy’s recovery after covid by generating an estimated $5 billion in consumer spending.

The movie, directed by Sam Wrench, was mostly filmed across three shows at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, in August.

Swift’s father was connected with Aron by a mutual friend about his ‘crazy idea’ to put the movie directly into theaters and bypass studios in the distribution process, according to Puck. Her family was said to be ‘disappointed’ by talks with Hollywood’s usual distributors.

The discussions with Aron also came amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, which has brought filming to a halt on many big-name projects – leaving studios shuttered and theaters with a shortage of blockbuster releases to look forward to.

Swift was able to agree a deal with the union that meant work on the movie could go ahead without upsetting tens of thousands of industry professionals taking parts in the writers’ strike.

From Swift’s perspective, the AMC deal has allowed her to distribute the film on her own terms, without the role of Hollywood power-players who can take up to 70 percent of the income a film makes on an opening weekend.

Puck reported that Swift’s parents agreed a deal with Aron that left 43 percent of the gross with theaters and divided the remaining 57 percent between Swift and AMC.

It’s not clear how much Swift will take of the 57 percent split, but the presale figures alone suggest it will be tens of millions of dollars at least. The film had a budget of $10 million to $20 million.

Swift’s mom and dad, Scott and Andrea Swift (pictured), thrashed out terms with AMC CEO Adam Aron during secret talks which lasted several weeks

Swift’s Eras Tour has already become a global phenomenon since it kicked off in March. The 146-show tour, which will run until November 2024, smashed records for ticket sales and is even credited with helping the global economy’s recovery after covid

 Swift’s parents agreed a deal with Aron (pictured) that left 43 percent of the gross with theaters and divided the remaining 57 percent between Swift and AMC

AMC has also appointed Variance Films, an independent sub-distributor, to put the films on screens at other chains including Regal and Cinemark. 

The year’s top-grossing film so far is Barbie, which took $1.43 billion worldwide and $633 million in the US. Barbie was released on the same day as Oppenheimer, the year’s third highest grossing moving on $934 million.

The Eras Tour movie is on course to near Barbie’s opening-weekend taking of $162 million. Theaters are obliged to show the movie for at least four weeks, but can run it for a long as 26 weeks.

Swift is not believed to have sold the streaming rights yet, but  the deal allows it to appear on streaming services 13 weeks after its cinema release.

Taylor Swift first set the Internet abuzz when she was spotted with Kelce’s mom, Donna, inside Arrowhead Stadium during the first half of an NFL football game between the Chicago Bears and Kansas City Chiefs on September 24

Striking a deal with AMC outside of the Hollywood bubble has also caused a headache for other producers with upcoming releases.

The movie’s October 13 release date clashed with The Exorcist: Believer – forcing producers of the horror movie to reschedule their launch for October 6. Exorcist producer Jason Blum tweeted in August: ‘Look what you made me do! #taylorwins’.

Fans had previously touted the occasions as the ‘Exorswift’ before the schedule change, stirring up excitement about a Barbenheimer style dual release. 

Ticket prices for the Eras Tour movie are set at $19.89 for adults – matching Swift’s year of birth and the name of her fifth studio album.  

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