Taylor Swift Notches Biggest Concert Film Debut Ever, Topping Justin Bieber's 'Never Say Never'

How do you top a billion-dollar tour that’s still in progress? Release a concert film of the experience while shattering records, if you’re Taylor Swift.

This weekend, The Eras Tour Concert Film, which compiles footage from the pop star's August shows in Los Angeles, hit theaters across the country and raked in an estimated $95-$97 million at the box office, making it the highest-grossing concert film in history, according to AMC Theatres Distribution. (Final figures will come on Monday.)

The film also scored an impressive A+ Cinemascore and a 100 percent fresh rating on RottenTomatoes.com.

That’s “a blockbuster-style opening domestic weekend,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore.

 Swift shattered opening records for a concert film, AMC added, noting that Justin Bieber's Never Say Never concert film grossed $73 million total over the course of its 2011 domestic run.

“This is a huge win for Taylor Swift and her family,” says Matthew Belloni, who first reported the terms of Swift’s theatrical deal in his newsletter, Puck.

By cutting a deal directly with AMC Entertainment instead of traditional movie studios, Swift “bypassed the traditional Hollywood system and like many things in her life, she came out on top. This is a huge financial windfall," he added.

On Wednesday, the pop star again did things her way by holding a frenzied Los Angeles premiere that took over 13 AMC theaters at The Grove, where she held court in a blue Oscar de la Renta gown. 

And when news broke that the film would hit theaters a day early, Swifties across the country were ready for it. Inside packed theaters, fans traded (more) friendship bracelets, sang along at full pitch and danced in the aisles, taking cell phone videos of the screen (allowable in a rare instance by theaters) and eating out of coveted Swift-adorned popcorn buckets.

Theaters even agreed to set Swiftian prices for tickets: $19.89 (plus tax) for standard adult tickets and $13.13 for children and seniors (plus tax).

Meanwhile, Hollywood has been in knots over the lost opportunity. Instead of selling rights to The Eras Tour Concert Film to a movie studio, which would traditionally distribute the film to movie theaters and take a cut of the profits, Swift — and her parents, Andrea and Scott, Puck reported — cut out the middleman and brokered a deal with AMC that was “overwhelmingly favorable to the Swift family,” says Belloni.

How much will the pop star make in this streamlined business model? A hefty sum, for sure. Puck reported 43 percent of the movie’s gross profits will go to theaters, and the remaining 57 percent will be shared (in an undetermined split) by Swift and AMC.

Like her sold-out global tour, the demand for the Eras concert film is staggering: Prior to release, AMC announced the film had sold more than $100 million in advance tickets globally, with the movie set to debut in 90 countries. 

The Beyhive is next in line for a silver screen bonanza. On Dec. 1, Beyonce will also release her concert film, Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé, directly to theaters via AMC Entertainment. In a notable show of solidarity, the two superstars posed together at Swift’s L.A. premiere Wednesday.

This marks a unique moment in film history, says Jeff Bock, senior box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations Co. 

“Successful concert films are one of the rarest events in the theatrical community. It just doesn’t happen very often — maybe once a decade,” he says. “And now we’re getting two of these films back-to-back with both expected not only be very successful but start a new cinematic trend.”