Could this be the answer to the S.O.S. that movie theater venues desperately need?
Every now and then, music artists of all genres in the apogee of their careers release documentaries of their tours. In a way to boost their earnings while giving the fans an entertainment outlet once the hype of attending the tour winds down by keeping the artists present in the collective minds.
Baby Boomers have Pink Floyd’s: Live at Pompeii in 1972, Gen X’s Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” in 2009, and Millennials have Beyonce’s “Homecoming” from the Coachella Festival in 2019.
Live concert films share a common factor: the artists & their fans’ symbiosis in real time, organically crafting a legacy of a memorable performance.
In April 2019, the British Band Coldplay resorted to the effective marketing formula used by artists that came before them releasing in 2,000 cinemas in 70 countries in partnership with a distributor. For a limited time only, on April 19 & 23, fans of Chris Martin and his band enjoyed a film featuring the ten-night tenancy live concerts at the River Plate Stadium in Argentina, “The Music Of The Spheres” tour.
A month before the most talked about tour on earth, “The Eras Tour” machine was set in motion and opened the pathway to continue the trend of live concert movies.
The high demand for Taylor Swift concert tickets exceeded the wildest expectations, leading to the foreshadowing announcement of “The Eras Tour” movie premiere on October 13th. The revelation undoubtedly made “swifties” galvanized to attend cinemas sweeping ticket offices across the United States and Canada.
There was one caveat: Ms. Swift did it on her own terms, which meant skipping one step of the production process by releasing the movie through a distributor that, in most films, is a division managed by a major studio. Instead, the singer-songwriter invested $15 million to produce the movie and negotiated directly with AMC Entertainment Holding for the exclusive rights to show the movie in the United States due to high demand in Canada.
The Eras Tour cinematographic experience, in addition to being exhibited in AMC circuit theaters, was set to land in Regal and Cinemark-selected venues.
The perceivable innovative approach in business deals had as precedent Pearl Jam’s 2011 documentary “Pearl Jam Twenty” distributed without advertising costs in partnership with an indie company, Abramorama, which sold out in theaters.
Taylor Swift’s unicorn status in the entertainment industry made the film once more a unique example of success, giving a glimpse of a promising future for the agonizing film industry and theaters as an outing collective experience.
So far, the lucrative venture gave the artist honcho and the AMC distribution sector 57% split earnings of $150 million in domestic revenue and $200 million globally. The remaining43% went directly to the cinemas.
The singer-songwriter-director that broke record sales, topped the list most Spotify listeners, ranked first on the Billboard 100 and 200 chart can now add to her distinguished portfolio the title of box- office darling.
Ms. Swift befriended success since the beginning of her career as a performer claiming sold out arenas and stadiums across continents. Raking up accolades such as twelve Grammy Awards, fourteen MTV Video Music Awards in the United States and Europe, close to one hundred Guinness World Records, twenty nine Billboard Music Awards and the list goes on and on.
Now she is a bona fide cinematic phenomenon is rapidly catching up to “Barbie” the #1 movie so far in 2023. In less than a month of its release “The Eras Tour” film is outpacing director Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster.
Is unprecedented what the sharp-witted
Right after Beyonce took a page from the “Reputation’s” singer business practices playbook by promoting her upcoming “Renaissance Tour’’ feature film set to be released in December 2023, sustaining the ongoing trend of feature films about musical performances negotiating directly with AMC Once more the agreement was possible thanks to the DOJ who in 1938 sued the movie studios which weakened the monopoly of the industry giants. Acclaimed director Christopher Nolan praised the initiative as a viable alternative to stimulate the film industry as a whole.