Greg Marcus has been in the movie business for years but he never expected to be urging moviegoers to take out their phones during a film 鈥� let alone to be crafting friendship bracelets
But there the chief executive and chair of the Marcus Corporation is in headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, stringing beads together while humming 鈥淪hake It Off.鈥�
Movie theaters are readying for an onslaught like they鈥檝e never seen before, beginning Friday when 鈥淭aylor Swift: The Eras Tour鈥� debuts. The concert film, compiled from several is expected to launch with $100 million, or possibly more. Advance ticket sales worldwide have already surpassed $100 million.
Dancing will be encouraged.
鈥淭his is different,鈥� says Marcus. 鈥淭ake your phone out. Take selfies. Dance, sing, get up, have a good time. We want to create an atmosphere.鈥�
Concert films, of course, aren鈥檛 anything new. Just last month, returned to theaters for a decades-later encore. But 鈥淭he Eras Tour鈥� heralds something new and potentially game-changing in the movie industry.
Two of the biggest stars on the planet 鈥� Swift and 鈥� are heading into cinemas in first-of-their-kind deals made directly with AMC Theaters that circumvent Hollywood studios and which, for now, leave streamers waiting on the sidelines.
But how did the once declared-for-dead multiplex become the go-to place this fall a pair of stars
When studios began diverting some of their titles to streaming platforms, movie theaters began thinking harder about how they could fill their screens 鈥� a question exacerbated this autumn by an that鈥檚 led to the
Movie theaters are increasingly not just a marquee of movie showtimes but a big-screen stage for a variety of visual media. BTS earlier this year , with higher ticket prices and limited showtimes. The Metropolitan Opera has for years done
Few acts can do what Swift and Beyonc茅 can. Their expected success is unlikely to be replicated. But 鈥淭he Eras Tour鈥� could be the start of an expansion of what, exactly, a movie theater can be. Think , only much cheaper and in most towns.
鈥淵ou could say we鈥檙e in the movie business, but really we鈥檙e in the getting-together-with-other-people business,鈥� says Marcus. 鈥淭he more we do of it, the more the customers will think about it and the more talent will go: This is something I could do.鈥�
Swift鈥檚 camp was motivated to get the film out even as her stadium tour continues internationally. The tour, which is projected by Pollstar to gross some $1.4 billion, , saw sky-high resale mark-ups and left many fans priced out.
The movie, directed by Sam Wrench, would be a way for millions more to experience . Adult tickets are being sold for $19.89,鈥� a reference to her birth year and 2014 album, a re-recording of which is due out Oct. 27. That鈥檚 higher than the average movie ticket but several thousand less than many tickets to see Swift live.
It鈥檚 arriving uncommonly fast, too, just a little over two months since the SoFi shows. Speed was one reason Swift鈥檚 father, Scott Swift, is said to have sought out a direct deal with AMC. Swift produced the film, herself, and, with 274 million followers on Instagram, didn鈥檛 need a studio to promote it.
The has only further brightened the spotlight on the movie. According to ad tracking firm iSpot, TV ads for the film ran only a few dozen times as of Oct. 6, including several spots during NFL broadcasts. (A Marvel movie, by comparison, might run several thousand TV commercials.)
Ticket sales will be split 43% with theaters and 57% shared by Swift and AMC 鈥� with the lion鈥檚 share of that going to Swift. The film will play exclusively in theaters for at least 13 weeks 鈥� longer than many Hollywood releases do now. AMC CEO Adam Aron has called the deal 鈥渁 coup for AMC鈥� on social media.
Both AMC and representatives for Swift declined to discuss the film鈥檚 release.
After a premiere in Los Angeles on Wednesday, there won鈥檛 be any advance screenings until the movie begins playing at 6 p.m. local time Friday. Most wide-release movies open with Thursday showings and Friday daytime screenings. It鈥檚 another wrinkle in a nontraditional release that鈥檚 challenging Hollywood norms.
鈥淚nnovation comes out of challenging times in this business. We鈥檙e seeing a lot of changes, some subtle, some not so subtle,鈥� says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore. 鈥淚t seems like, right now, there are no rules when it comes to being successful.鈥�
Dergarabedian believes the two concert films should help lift the North American box office to more than $9 billion in 2023, up from the $7.4 billion of last year and edging closer to the $11.4 billion of 2019.
鈥淚t really opens up the idea that other types of content can play really well in a movie theater,鈥� he says.
Some of those changes have been facilitated by the abolishment of long-held antitrust restrictions governing movie distribution. After more than 70 years of regulating divisions between exhibition and distribution, were terminated in 2020 with a two-year sunset period that ran until last year.
鈥淚nnovation had effectively been stunted,鈥� says Makan Delrahim, the former antitrust chief at the Justice Department who proposed ending the consent decrees.
Delrahim believes 鈥淭aylor Swift: The Eras Tour鈥� 鈥� as a movie distributed by a theater chain, with nontraditional ticket prices 鈥� could 鈥渇uel new business models to save the exhibitors.鈥�
鈥淭here will be more appetite to experiment different models for theatrical distribution,鈥� Delrahim says. 鈥淭he industry needs it and, frankly, so do consumers.鈥�
Meanwhile, 鈥淭aylor Swift: The Eras Tour鈥� is poised to become the biggest concert film ever in about two days of release. Not accounting for inflation, 2011鈥檚 鈥淛ustin Bieber: Never Say Never鈥� holds that mark with $73.1 million across its entire run. Accounting for inflation, it will be harder for 鈥淭he Eras Tour鈥� to catch 鈥淲oodstock,鈥� which grossed $50 million in 1970, a total that translates to nearly $400 million today.
In Marcus鈥� theaters, like many other chains, there will be friendship bracelet stations. Sound systems have been modified for more of a concert feel. And while Marcus grants it will be strange to see an AMC logo before a film playing in his theaters, he doesn鈥檛 particularly mind.
鈥淚鈥檓 just happy it鈥檚 there,鈥� he says.
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