Tickets went on sale yesterday for screenings of a ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ concert film, which will arrive in cinemas across North America next month. And, according to Deadline, ticket pre-sales have already topped $10 million.
“The Eras Tour has been the most meaningful, electric experience of my life so far and I’m overjoyed to tell you that it’ll be coming to the big screen soon”, Swift posted on social media yesterday, alongside a trailer for the film. “Tickets are on sale now. Eras attire, friendship bracelets, singing and dancing encouraged”.
US cinema operator AMC Theatres is Swift’s partner of the concert film screenings. It said yesterday: “In a groundbreaking programming initiative for AMC and the domestic theatrical industry, beginning Friday 13 Oct, music lovers throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico will be able to enjoy ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ concert film at movie theatres, with their huge screens and state-of-the art sound systems”.
“This marks the inaugural step of a new line of business for AMC Entertainment”, it added. “In addition to exhibiting ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ concert film at its own theatres, AMC is also acting as the theatrical distributor, securing locations and screens with numerous other movie theatre operators throughout the US, Canada and Mexico”.
Obviously aware of what happened when tickets first went on sale for the actual ‘The Eras Tour’ – the issues that occurred on Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan system making the entire ticketing business a political talking point again – AMC also cautioned Swift fans to expect some delays when buying their tickets for the screenings.
“In anticipation of this announcement, AMC has upgraded its website and ticketing engines to handle more than five times the largest influx of ticket-buying traffic the company has ever experienced before”, it stressed.
“But AMC is also aware that no ticketing system in history seems to have been able to accommodate the soaring demand from Taylor Swift fans when tickets are first placed on sale. Guests wanting to be the first to buy their tickets online may experience delays, longer-than-usual ticket-purchase waiting-room times and possible outages”.
Of course, with a movie version of the show, the advantage is that it can just be screened and screened until demand runs out. As it is, in the initial weeks after the film premieres, “every US AMC Theatre location will run at least four showtimes per day on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays”.
Anthony D’Alessandro