EXCLUSIVE: Sources are telling us today that AMC‘s last-minute booking of Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl for a one weekend play has racked up $15M across all circuits in its first 24 hours after going on sale yesterday upon the pic’s announcement. The movie’s sole weekend in theaters over Oct. 3-5 is expected to be between $30M-$50M.
Myriad folks tell me that AMC saw its 6th highest day of presales yesterday thanks to Showgirl, around $7.5M.
Deadline hears that unlike Eras Tour which was pitched by the Swifts to the motion picture studios before AMC won out, the family called up the No. 1 circuit boss Adam Aron directly in late August about Showgirl, which they already had in the works. Hands down, the Swifts had an over-the-moon experience with the Eras Tour which grossed $180.8M domestic, $267.1M worldwide, and per our sources a net profit of $172M. Once again, the distribution move allows the Swifts to control their box office destiny with the best deal possible circumventing the major studios.
Already outdoor digital billboards are splashing ads about the album concept film in major cities, coast to coast. Word is there won’t be any trailers released. Given the last-minute booking of the movie, the P&A will be significantly smaller than the $55M global P&A we heard about for Swift’s Eras Tour concert movie back in 2023. That pic had an end of August announcement, leading into a month and half of promotion before its $93.2M domestic opening on Oct. 13, the second-best domestic bow ever for the month of October (after DC/Warner Bros’ Joker at $96.2M). First day industry presales on Eras Tour were estimated around $37M for the top three circuits.
In addition, it stands to reason that the opening will not be anywhere near the size of Eras Tour, given the two-week lead to Showgirl‘s opening, and the reduced price of tickets, $12 plus tax (first concert pic was $13.13 for kids and seniors, but as high as $20 for adults). I hear that the Swifts also set the ticket price for Showgirl. Furthermore, while Eras Tour was meant to be an opportunity for those Swifties unable to attend her concert, in addition to being a celebration of her career’s work, the whole point of the Showgirl movie is to sell her 12th studio album, not rack up box office records. That said, the movie itself looks to do quite well.
The 89-minute Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl includes the exclusive world premiere of her music video “The Fate of Ophelia”, the 14x Grammy winner’s never-before-seen personal reflections on the new album’s songs, behind-the-scenes footage from the music video shoot and brand-new lyric videos.
When Eras Tour landed on the calendar two years ago, it forced several movies including Universal’s Exorcist: The Believer, among others to get out of the way. That’s really not possible this time around given how the campaigns for such Oct. 3 releases as A24’s The Smashing Machine, 20th Century Studios’ re-release of Avatar: The Way of Water, and Bleecker Street’s Bone Lake have been locked and loaded for a while. The R-rated Dwayne Johnson-Emily Blunt starring, Benny Safdie directed Smashing Machine is expected to open to around $20M. We understand that there’s dibs being called on premium large format screens between Avatar 2, Showgirl, and some for Smashing Machine.
We understand terms, because of the one weekend play for Showgirl, are quite favorable to exhibitor partners which include rivals Regal, Cinemark, etc. Showgirl will play all 540 AMC locations. Eras Tour was reportedly around 43% to circuits. Similar to that film, AMC is having Variance Films handle the U.S. and Canada release on Showgirl, but overseas will be handled by Piece of Magic Entertainment. Showgirl counts 18-country launch including Mexico, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
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