Lessons Learned from Launching the Eras Tour – The Hollywood Reporter

A still from the movie “Taylor Swift: Tour for the Ages.”

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There’s probably no director or major star who wouldn’t envy Taylor Swift for taking the ultimate tour around the Hollywood studio system and teaming up directly with AMC Theaters to bring her new musical to the big screen. This way, she can be in the driver’s seat, versus having an independent studio or distributor tell her how to market and distribute her concert film.

Taylor Swift: Tour for the Ages It’s certainly a win-win after opening to a record $92.8 million domestically and $123.5 million worldwide over the weekend of October 13-15. It is already the highest-grossing concert film of all time in North America, as well as ranking as the second-biggest domestic debut of October, not adjusted for inflation.

But questions still remain about why Tour of the ages That film fell behind its expected opening of $100 million in North America and $150 million worldwide, and left millions on the table as a result of its unconventional release. Some point out the unusual messaging around the film (such as Swift and AMC encouraging fans to dance and sing along as they watch the 2-hour, 48-minute film). There are also concerns that independent theater circles will be kept in the dark regarding major decisions due to AMC’s unique role as distributor and exhibitor. One thing is fairly certain, though, and that is that Swift and her team were the masterminds behind every move. One more thing – there had to be a bad attitude on the part of the studios, who could have asked for an 8 percent to 15 percent distribution fee.

It’s hard to turn down a $90 million opening. “I think that’s great for the industry, and it’s great for AMC, but there was money left on the table because there were no professionals to handle it,” says one studio executive.

David Herren, founder of film research company The Quorum, disagrees and says Tour of the ages It is an unconditional success. “Even if the film had had the full marketing resources of the studio, I’m not sure the audience would have grown. It’s a limited audience, and I feel like she got them all.”

Hollywood Reporter I spoke to theater and distribution insiders to break down some of the lessons learned from it Tour of the ages.

An unfair advantage

When Swift and AMC Theaters announced the concert film on August 31, some consumers may have assumed AMC was carrying it Tour of the ages Exclusively. In her original Instagram post revealing the news regarding Tour of the ages Movie, Swift was tagged on AMC (the post has since been edited and no longer has the AMC hashtag).

This theory was immediately proven when U.S. advance ticket sales topped $37 million in the first 24 hours for AMC and fellow mega chains Regal and Cinemark. AMC’s share reached $26 million, a record.

“It was quite clear that only the top three rinks had full knowledge and were able to sell their tickets from the start,” says a source in one of the top independent circuits. “And that left every other arena in America having to scramble and rewrite their schedules, reset their plans for the coming months, and then also stress about what would happen if we put tickets on sale and the website collapsed. So, it was a gift from AMC, but it was also complicated and it was good for them.” certainly.

During its opening weekend, AMC was happy to boast that its U.S. locations commanded an unprecedented 41.5 percent market share, compared to the usual 22 to 25 percent.

“they [AMC] I positioned this film as an exclusive, something you never want to do. As a distributor, they cost themselves sales overall. “The studio doesn’t know who is selling the tickets,” says one Hollywood distribution veteran.

run out! (but not really)

1 week ago Ages AMC opened with a press release announcing that worldwide pre-sale sales exceeded $100 million across all circuits. This may have created a misconception that the consumer would not be able to obtain a ticket for the opening weekend. (The Disney marketing machine had a similar problem with… Star Wars: The Force Awakens She went out of her way to get the message across that there were still plenty of seats.)

A source says the show’s ticket sales are… Tour of the ages It began to plateau significantly around the same time. “You would expect a movie that sold that many tickets to trend to the top, but it was in the lead. So, for concert movies, demand is structured like a concert where there’s a lot going on.” [when tickets first go on sale] It is very heavy somehow. We definitely have a lot of tickets sold for the next few weeks. But since it doesn’t behave like a regular movie, it’s hard to know how it will perform.

Eric Swifties non-refundable tickets

Tour of the ages It was originally set to premiere at 6pm local time on October 13 (Swift’s lucky number is 13). Late on October 11, before heading to the film’s world premiere in Los Angeles, Swift revealed that the film would instead start at 6pm on October 12 thanks to high demand. Some Swifties quickly took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to complain about not being able to switch their tickets from Friday night to Thursday without paying twice. (No one can remember another instance where a movie ticket was non-refundable.)

“Some of those [Thursday] The shows were good, some of them were a ghost town. You have all these fans who bought tickets to what they thought was the first show [and] A lot of them will end up in a very quiet theatre. It was framed as if it were [Taylor Swift] “I decided today, but I would be shocked if that were the case,” says the show’s source.

Thursday showings grossed $2.8 million, compared to $22 million in previews for Barbie. Traditional studio event gameplay style like PIC Barbie It goes like this: Host previews on Thursday evening before expanding to each location on Friday morning. If the studio distributes Agesthey are unlikely to agree to start Friday at 6 p.m

“I know the early showings didn’t hurt the final gross, but they didn’t bring goodwill to the theaters. They were surprised,” says the studio distributor, noting that movie theaters had to increase staffing Thursday at the last minute.

Leave the dancing to us

Swift’s fan base includes a large number of adults, but only 18 percent of them came out to watch Tour of the ages During opening weekend they were 35 or older, including 9 percent 45 or older. According to a Morning Concert poll conducted in March, Generation

Also, the audience was 79% female and 70% white, according to PostTrak, causing some to wonder if it would have been possible to reach a wider audience if the studio had run a traditional marketing campaign. This is especially true of the gender breakdown, as 48 percent of Swift’s fans are male, according to Morning Consult (74 percent of her fan base is white, according to the poll). “I mainly played with younger white females,” says another studio distribution source. “We could have done marketing things to attract more people.”

The singer as well as AMC encouraged fans to dance and sing as much as they want. Photos of this activity during the opening weekend spread quickly on social media. But some moviegoers were not happy with the noisy environment and took to social media to express their displeasure. “Maybe older people in particular were put off by this and decided not to see it,” says the studio executive.

Playing the parlor game (or managing expectations)

Several weeks before a film’s release, various tracking services make their forecasts for the opening weekend. Hollywood studios are notorious for under-expected opening of a film if tracking is mismatched. In case Tour of the agesThe situation was the opposite. AMC came out with a domestic estimate of $100 million, while at least one major tracking service was more conservative in suggesting $75 million. (To be fair to AMC, most people thought it would make between $110 million and $125 million domestically based on advance ticket sales.)

Distribution executives now realize the discrepancy: There was virtually no live business all weekend. “In case BarbieI went to see it even though I didn’t play it as a kid and it wasn’t in my orbit. But I wanted to see what Great Gerwig did with the property. “That sense of discovery is missing in the concert film,” Herren says.

All eyes are now on how to do it Tour of the ages Performing on the second weekend. Most expect him to prevail over Martin Scorsese Moonflower Killers, which opens on Friday. If it declines sharply, it will serve as another lesson for the industry and for AMC’s foray into distribution, which includes the release of Beyoncé’s upcoming concert film, Renaissance: A Beyoncé Filmon December 1.

“There’s going to be more of this stuff over the next year with everyone trying to get the same kind of money. In the grand scheme of things, I’m definitely glad it happened because it was a gift from a big number that premiered that got people into the theater,” he says. Gallery source: “But I think there is a lot to learn and take into account in the coming weeks and months.”

Paul Dergarabedian, senior box office analyst at Comscore, adds, “The nearly $100 million additional domestic box office added to the bottom line by Swift’s concert film will ultimately be seen as worth the pressure of a unique and unprecedented release at the end of the day.” this week.”