Swift Moves to Dominate Theaters... North America Release Date Moved Up by One Day

Movie Featuring Concert Footage Set to Release Soon
"Early Screenings Planned in the US and Canada"
Pre-Sale Tickets Exceed 100 Million Dollars

The movie capturing the concert of pop star Taylor Swift, who is at the peak of popularity in the United States, will be released a day earlier than scheduled on the 12th (local time). With explosive demand confirmed as advance ticket sales alone exceeded $100 million (about 135 billion KRW), it is expected to premiere first in North America and dominate theaters.

Pop star Taylor Swift [Photo by AFP Yonhap News]

On the 11th (local time), Swift announced on her social media platform 'X' that "the 'The Eras Tour Concert' movie will have an early screening in the US and Canada," adding, "Additional showtimes will be added on Friday (13th) and over the weekend (14th-15th)."

Since March, Swift has been conducting her world tour, 'THE ERAS TOUR,' starting in the United States. The concert footage film, Taylor Swift: Eras Tour, was originally scheduled to open in over 100 countries on the 13th, but it will now be released a day earlier exclusively in the US and Canada.

The US film industry expects the movie to generate revenue of up to $150 million. Advance ticket sales alone have surpassed $100 million. David Gross, a film consultant who runs a box office newsletter, described it as an "unprecedented scale."

Swift's movie is attracting attention from the local film industry in several respects.

First, there is curiosity about how many viewers will be interested in the film, given that it is being released shortly after Swift completed her concerts across the US. Industry insiders are interested in whether fans who attended the concerts will head to theaters again, and whether people who did not attend the expensive concerts costing hundreds of dollars will purchase the $19.89 (US price) movie ticket to watch it.

Initial evaluations suggest that the movie has already achieved a "blockbuster" success based on advance ticket sales alone. Since it is a screening of a concert, many audience members have inquired whether they can dance and sing along in the theater, prompting theaters to prepare guidelines. AMC Entertainment, the largest US theater chain and distributor, stated that dancing and singing are "encouraged" as long as it does not disturb other viewers.

Moreover, attention is drawn to the fact that Swift has directly contracted with US theater companies to release the film. Typically, film producers sign contracts with studios responsible for advertising and marketing, but Swift's film did not require separate promotion and thus bypassed this step to contract directly with theaters. According to a New York Times newsletter report, 57% of ticket revenue will go to Swift, with the remainder going to theaters.

AMC explained, "We have been amazed by the audience demand for this movie from the moment it was first announced," adding, "There is particularly high demand among US audiences to watch it on large screens such as IMAX."

However, industry experts believe this phenomenon stems from Swift's personal influence. Another American pop star, Beyonc?, is also scheduled to release a documentary featuring concert footage titled Renaissance: Beyonc?’s Film this December. However, its advance sales are not as large, showing a significant gap compared to Swift.

Swift's first leg of the tour, held in about 20 US cities through early August this year, reportedly attracted around 3 million attendees and generated ticket revenue exceeding 1 trillion KRW. The local economies showed signs of revival, with hotel bookings surging near her concert venues, prompting the US Federal Reserve (Fed) to mention this in its Beige Book. Some have even coined the term "Swiftonomics" by combining Swift and economics.

Swift will perform in South America in the second half of the year, and from next year, she will tour Asia and Europe.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.