Taylor Swift shatters the record for concert films in just one weekend, even if The Eras Tour wasn't quite as huge as predicted.
(Sorry for falling behind on these again. I'm going to do two a week until we get caught up).
Concert films have always been niche. The magic and excitement of seeing a band or a performer in person just can't be recreated in a movie theater, if only because the atmosphere of concerts and the atmosphere of theaters are very different. And without that, most concert films simply becomes a series of musical performance which can become somewhat boring to all but the superfans of the performer. That's one reason so many concert films break up the series of songs with interviews and behind-the-scene footage.
Taylor Swift was having none of that. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour was as close to a recreation of seeing the show live as she and her production team could make it, and she (and the theaters screening the film) sought to recreate the concert feeling as much as possible, including relaxing the usual prohibition on excessive noise and cell phones. And fans rewarded Taylor by turning the film, which captured by far the year's biggest concert tour, into the biggest concert film of all time in just one weekend. Eras opened to a whopping $92.8 million, leaving the previous recordholder, 2011's Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (from when he was still a bowl-haired teenybopper thought to be as threatening as milk) well behind. Sure, the film didn't quite leave up to the most grandiose of pre-release expectations, which had the film possibly beating the opening weekend of Barbie. But to the nation's grateful theater owners, which hadn't had a truly massive film since Barbenheimer launch back in July, that didn't matter.
Swift dominated the box office charts, accounting for 70% of the box office, but there were other films in release over the weekend. Given the poor reviews and word of mouth, not to mention that much of its prospective audience was in another auditorium singing along to "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", The Exorcist: Believer held up surprisngsly decently, taking in $11 million and falling a not-horrible-given-the-circumstances 59%. That's a lot better than director David Gordon Green's last two Halloween movies held up on their second weekends. Exorcist scared up a ten-day total of $44.9 million, and with two more weekends before Halloween, might be able to top $60 million.
In third, animated hit Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie barked up another $6.9 million to bring its total to $49.8 million, enough for it to have officially outgrossed the first Paw Patrol movie from 2021. Like the very different The Exorcist, it looks to be heading for a final gross of over $60 million.
As scary season approaches, Saw X has fallen behind Exorcist in total gross, but as Saw cost a whole lot less, I doubt Lionsgate minds too much. The horror sequel/prequel/midquel earned $5.7 million for a total of $41.4 million and has two more weekends before Halloween to get its numbers above $50 million.
One title not sharing in the bounty is The Creator. Easily the widest release between the already-forgotten Gran Turismo and Taylor Swift that wasn't a sequel, it seems destined to join Turismo in the "already-forgotten" pile well before Thanksgiving. The sci-fi drama took in $4.3 million for a rather meager $32.4 million. It seems likely to outgross Turismo, but just barely.
Christian biopic The Blind isn't doing gangbusters business, but given that it got about 1/100th of the hype of Exorcist or Taylor Swift or even The Creator, its holding its own. The drama earned $2 million for a total of $13.9 million and seems to be heading for a final between $15 and $20 million.
Disney might have been able to conjure up some more money for A Haunting in Venice if they had released it closer to Halloween rather than in mid-September, particularly as it's actually based on a book called Hallowe'en Party. But they did release it then, and the Kenneth Branagh Agatha Christie adaption continues to fall further behind Death on the Nile to cement itself as the lowest-grossing of the series.
Speaking of movies released in mid-September, Warner's was probably wise to send The Nun II out ahead of the other horror titles of the season, as the film had the audience to itself for three weeks. The supernatural sequel earned another $1.6 million for a total of $83.8 million. Unless it is able to get a seasonal boost in the next couple of weeks, it looks to be heading for a final gross between $85 and $90 million.
Rounding out the Top Ten, The Equalizer 3 and Dumb Money were unable to make it to $1 million for the weekend, as they now have grosses of $90.6 million and $12.6 million, respectively. Meanwhile, the re-release of Hocus Pocus comes in with a ten-day total of $3.3 million, meaning it will likely finish below its pandemic-era re-release three years ago.
This summer, Oppenheimer proved that a three-hour, deeply serious historical drama with an acclaimed director and an all-star cast can become a giant blockbuster. Can history repeat itself almost immediately? That's the question facing Killers of the Flower Moon, a three-hour plus, deeply serious historical drama with an even more acclaimed director and an all-star cast. Despite being directed by Martin Scorsese and starring his two iconic muses, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Nero, all working together for the first time, this one doesn't arrive with anywhere near the buzz that Oppenheimer arrived with (no Swiftymoon portmanteaus, for example), but still should put up respectable numbers, though whether those numbers will be big enough to deny Swift another title remains to be seen. Meanwhile, two weeks after Disney rolled out its iconic Halloween movie Hocus Pocus for its 30th anniversary, it rolls out its iconic Halloween movie The Nightmare Before Christmas for its 30th anniversary. Back in 1993, Nightmare got the coveted October release date, leaving Pocus to be banished to July, and Jack Skellington ended up outgrossing the Sanderson sisters. Will history repeat itself this year? Meanwhile, will Moon be rising on a #1 slot, or will The Eras Tour say "You Belong With Me?" We'll find out next week.
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