Taylor Swift performs in Denver during “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” on July 14.
Tom Cooper/tas23 | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
…Ready for it?
In less than 24 hours on the market, ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s Era Tour concert film have already broken records.
Fandango reported Friday that the singer’s film ranks in the top-10 all-time best first-day pre-sellers, joining the likes of “Avengers: Endgame,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
“Taylor Swift is giving moviegoing fans and the entire industry the ultimate gift by bringing Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert film to the big screen,” said Jerramy Hainline, senior vice president at Fandango Ticketing.
AMC Entertainment reported that Thursday ticket sales for Swift’s film reached $26 million, a new record for the century-old company. Previously, the highest single-day ticket sales record was held by “Spider-Man: No Way Home” with $16.9 million.
The largest movie chain in the world has added additional domestic showtimes to increase capacity: The nearly three-hour-long film, which arrives in theaters Oct. 13, will play at least four showtimes per day at AMC theaters on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through early November.
Swift’s concert film documents the wildly popular tour that raked in millions and was on its way to hit a record-breaking $1 billion in sales earlier this summer.
It displaced Universal’s “Exorcist: Believer,” which announced it would move its release date a week earlier just hours after news broke of the pop star’s drop.
The film was originally slated for just the nation’s largest theater chains, like AMC, Regal and Cinemark, but smaller theater chains quickly requested access to the film, which is set to run through Nov. 5. Before the end of Thursday, most domestic theater chains were offering showtimes in their premium format theaters like IMAX and Dolby.
With so many of the higher priced screens now dedicated to Swift’s film, “Exorcist: Believer” opted to move up a week.
Cinema chains told CNBC that most of the Thursday ticket sales were for showings during the concert film’s opening weekend. Box office analysts speculate that Swift’s Eras Tour could capture more than $100 million over its debut.
The film release comes at a time when Hollywood is grappling with dual labor strikes and the departure of films like Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s “Dune: Part II” from the 2023 film slate.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal owns Fandango.