Taylor Swift Breaks Spider-Man Box Office Record
The "Anti-Hero" has topped the superhero in ticket presales at AMC Theatres.
Taylor Swift is shaking up the box office. The "Anti-Hero" singer announced Thursday that Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film, a theatrical concert experience presenting a cinematic view of her history-making stadium tour, will open in movie theaters on October 13th. Swift already scared off The Exorcist: Believer — the Blumhouse horror moved up one week to October 6th to avoid the hotly-anticipated Eras Tour film — and now the fast-selling anti-hero has broken a box office record set by superhero Spider-Man in December 2021.
Movie theater chain AMC Theatres, which will exhibit Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film and act as theatrical distributor, reports that the film has earned $26 million in presales at AMC theaters — just 24 hours after advance tickets went on sale Thursday morning. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film ticket presales now hold the record for the No. 1 single-day ticket sales at AMC Theatres, topping the $16.9 million thwipped up by Marvel and Sony's Spider-Man: No Way Home in December 2021.
The $26 million is only for tickets sold at AMC, which isn't the only exhibitor screening the Eras Tour film. In addition to playing the film at its own theaters, AMC Entertainment is also acting as the theatrical distributor and has secured locations and screens with numerous other movie theater operators throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, including Regal and Cinemark locations.
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film is so anticipated that AMC made an unprecedented move when it upgraded its website and ticketing engines to handle more than five times the largest influx of ticket-buying traffic in the history of the company. AMC also temporarily restricted use of its AMC Stubs rewards program toward online ticket purchases and scaled back its website ticketing availability for most other movie titles, meaning moviegoers who weren't trying to purchase Taylor Swift tickets experienced temporary outages.
AMC said in a press release, "AMC is also aware that no ticketing system in history seems to have been able to accommodate the soaring demand from Taylor Swift fans when tickets are first placed on sale. Guests wanting to be the first to buy their tickets online may experience delays, longer-than-usual ticket-purchase waiting-room times and possible outages. AMC is committed to ensuring any delays or outages are addressed as quickly as possible." Some ticket buyers reported having to wait in a timed queue before they could choose and purchase their seats.
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film opens wide in theaters October 13th.
