Given that her concert tour has generated billions up to this point already, everything earned from this movie is pretty much icing on an already well-iced cake. Something happens when a big movie falls short of ridiculously high expectations sometimes. People will look at it as a disappointment, which runs counter to the true narrative. Any jokes about Batman and Taylor Swift now sharing a common enemy aside, what “The Eras Tour” just did is nothing shy of absurdly impressive. It is going to go a long way in moving Swift up the list on the “biggest pop stars ever” chart.
There are other things worth considering as well. “Joker” opened to $39.3 million on its first Friday in theaters, $13.3 million of which came from Thursday previews. “The Eras Tour” only announced Thursday screenings at the last minute, leaving many fans no chance to rearrange plans. As a result, Swift’s film only made $2.8 million in Thursday previews en route to a $37.5 million Friday. It should also be noted that showtimes on Friday didn’t even start until 6 p.m. If Swift had announced Thursday previews as soon as tickets went on sale, and if showtimes had been going on all day Friday, who knows? The record posted by “Joker” may well have been toppled.
Much like “Joker” owns the record for an R-rated movie, “The Eras Tour” is going to own the record for the highest-grossing concert movie ever when all’s said and done — and likely by a pretty wide margin. In that way, these two wildly different movies are alike. King and Queen of their respective cinematic hill. The Clown Prince of Crime and the current queen of pop music at the top of their game.
“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” is in theaters now.