How Soon Will The Taylor Swift Eras Tour Concert Movie Be Streaming?
You know something massive is coming when AMC Theatres announces that it has "bolstered its ticket server capacity to handle traffic at more than five times the current record for the most ever tickets sold in an hour." That's the power of Taylor Swift.
Coming as a total surprise to fans, haters, and the entire Hollywood studio system alike, Taylor Swift dropped a surprise announcement on Instagram that a concert film of her record-breaking Eras Tour will be coming exclusively to theaters in October. Swift's grand return to the arena, after releasing four albums during the pandemic with no opportunity to tour, took the form of a roughly three-hour-long nightly retrospective of her nearly 20-year-long career. The Eras Tour has been credited with boosting the federal economy, generating minor seismic activity in the Seattle area, and earning over $1 billion in ticket sales, merchandise, and marketing.
Now, our capitalist queen is taking the tour to theaters across the country. All the fans who don't live near urban centers or couldn't afford the steep ticket prices can get in on the action, and more records are already being smashed. AMC announced in another press release today that "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" set a new record for highest-ever single-day advance ticket sales. Furthermore, another big piece of news here is that Swift & co. cut the Hollywood studios out of the deal, so profits will be equally shared between Swift and AMC, which will be acting as both exhibitor and distributor.
But what happens after the movie hits theaters? When can fans enjoy the Eras Tour from the comfort of their own home without watching shaky TikTok videos? According to a report at Puck, the deal struck between AMC Theatres and Taylor Swift will allow the movie to be available on streaming after 13 weeks after the theatrical release.
Are you ready for it?
For reference, "Barbie," the year's highest-grossing movie so far, will arrive on VOD on September 5, just over seven weeks since its July 21 premiere. That's less than half the time the Swift/AMC deal stipulates the film will remain exclusively available in theaters. The fact that Swift is free to put "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" on streaming 13 weeks after its premiere doesn't necessarily mean it'll play in theaters continuously for that period of time. Per Puck, theaters that play the film must carry it for at least four weeks, but are able to show it for as many as 26 weeks without the terms changing. In theory, the movie could be on streaming and in theaters simultaneously.
What this means is that "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" could end up in theaters for a long time, meaning a welcome stimulus is coming AMC's way (and other participating theater chains) as it fights to get out from under $4+ billion in debt.
Currently, no one has snagged the streaming rights for the film, which both is and isn't surprising. On one hand, this is Taylor Alison Swift we're talking about. Remember the billion dollars, the most pre-sale tickets ever, and causing an earthquake?! Any streamer would be lucky to secure this bag. On the other hand, the only parties who were aware of the existence of the film before yesterday were Taylor Swift, her team, and AMC. Plus, there are already reports that studios are furious with AMC, their biggest customer, for cutting them out of this deal — and doing it behind their backs no less. If you ask me, it serves them right for jerking theaters around with the disastrous day-and-date strategy of the pandemic era.
A streaming deal for Taylor Swift's concert movie is likely to come together soon, but in any case, we can all celebrate Taylor Swift and movie theaters teaming up: the holy alliance we didn't know we needed.