Greg Marcus has been in the movie business for years but he never expected to be urging moviegoers to take out their phones during a film B次元官网网址� let alone to be crafting friendship bracelets
But there the chief executive and chair of the Marcus Corporation is in headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, stringing beads together while humming B次元官网网址淪hake It Off.B次元官网网址�
Movie theaters are readying for an onslaught like theyB次元官网网址檝e never seen before, beginning Friday when B次元官网网址淭aylor Swift: The Eras TourB次元官网网址� debuts. The concert film, compiled from several is expected to launch with $100 million, or possibly more. Advance ticket sales worldwide have already surpassed $100 million.
Dancing will be encouraged.
B次元官网网址淭his is different,B次元官网网址� says Marcus. B次元官网网址淭ake your phone out. Take selfies. Dance, sing, get up, have a good time. We want to create an atmosphere.B次元官网网址�
Concert films, of course, arenB次元官网网址檛 anything new. Just last month, returned to theaters for a decades-later encore. But B次元官网网址淭he Eras TourB次元官网网址� heralds something new and potentially game-changing in the movie industry.
Two of the biggest stars on the planet B次元官网网址� Swift and B次元官网网址� are heading into cinemas in first-of-their-kind deals made directly with AMC Theaters that circumvent Hollywood studios and which, for now, leave streamers waiting on the sidelines.
But how did the once declared-for-dead multiplex become the go-to place this fall a pair of stars
When studios began diverting some of their titles to streaming platforms, movie theaters began thinking harder about how they could fill their screens B次元官网网址� a question exacerbated this autumn by an thatB次元官网网址檚 led to the
Movie theaters are increasingly not just a marquee of movie showtimes but a big-screen stage for a variety of visual media. BTS earlier this year , with higher ticket prices and limited showtimes. The Metropolitan Opera has for years done
Few acts can do what Swift and Beyonc茅 can. Their expected success is unlikely to be replicated. But B次元官网网址淭he Eras TourB次元官网网址� could be the start of an expansion of what, exactly, a movie theater can be. Think , only much cheaper and in most towns.
B次元官网网址淵ou could say weB次元官网网址檙e in the movie business, but really weB次元官网网址檙e in the getting-together-with-other-people business,B次元官网网址� says Marcus. B次元官网网址淭he more we do of it, the more the customers will think about it and the more talent will go: This is something I could do.B次元官网网址�
SwiftB次元官网网址檚 camp was motivated to get the film out even as her stadium tour continues internationally. The tour, which is projected by Pollstar to gross some $1.4 billion, , saw sky-high resale mark-ups and left many fans priced out.
The movie, directed by Sam Wrench, would be a way for millions more to experience . Adult tickets are being sold for $19.89,B次元官网网址� a reference to her birth year and 2014 album, a re-recording of which is due out Oct. 27. ThatB次元官网网址檚 higher than the average movie ticket but several thousand less than many tickets to see Swift live.
ItB次元官网网址檚 arriving uncommonly fast, too, just a little over two months since the SoFi shows. Speed was one reason SwiftB次元官网网址檚 father, Scott Swift, is said to have sought out a direct deal with AMC. Swift produced the film, herself, and, with 274 million followers on Instagram, didnB次元官网网址檛 need a studio to promote it.
The has only further brightened the spotlight on the movie. According to ad tracking firm iSpot, TV ads for the film ran only a few dozen times as of Oct. 6, including several spots during NFL broadcasts. (A Marvel movie, by comparison, might run several thousand TV commercials.)
Ticket sales will be split 43% with theaters and 57% shared by Swift and AMC B次元官网网址� with the lionB次元官网网址檚 share of that going to Swift. The film will play exclusively in theaters for at least 13 weeks B次元官网网址� longer than many Hollywood releases do now. AMC CEO Adam Aron has called the deal B次元官网网址渁 coup for AMCB次元官网网址� on social media.
Both AMC and representatives for Swift declined to discuss the filmB次元官网网址檚 release.
After a premiere in Los Angeles on Wednesday, there wonB次元官网网址檛 be any advance screenings until the movie begins playing at 6 p.m. local time Friday. Most wide-release movies open with Thursday showings and Friday daytime screenings. ItB次元官网网址檚 another wrinkle in a nontraditional release thatB次元官网网址檚 challenging Hollywood norms.
B次元官网网址淚nnovation comes out of challenging times in this business. WeB次元官网网址檙e seeing a lot of changes, some subtle, some not so subtle,B次元官网网址� says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore. B次元官网网址淚t seems like, right now, there are no rules when it comes to being successful.B次元官网网址�
Dergarabedian believes the two concert films should help lift the North American box office to more than $9 billion in 2023, up from the $7.4 billion of last year and edging closer to the $11.4 billion of 2019.
B次元官网网址淚t really opens up the idea that other types of content can play really well in a movie theater,B次元官网网址� he says.
Some of those changes have been facilitated by the abolishment of long-held antitrust restrictions governing movie distribution. After more than 70 years of regulating divisions between exhibition and distribution, were terminated in 2020 with a two-year sunset period that ran until last year.
B次元官网网址淚nnovation had effectively been stunted,B次元官网网址� says Makan Delrahim, the former antitrust chief at the Justice Department who proposed ending the consent decrees.
Delrahim believes B次元官网网址淭aylor Swift: The Eras TourB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� as a movie distributed by a theater chain, with nontraditional ticket prices B次元官网网址� could B次元官网网址渇uel new business models to save the exhibitors.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淭here will be more appetite to experiment different models for theatrical distribution,B次元官网网址� Delrahim says. B次元官网网址淭he industry needs it and, frankly, so do consumers.B次元官网网址�
Meanwhile, B次元官网网址淭aylor Swift: The Eras TourB次元官网网址� is poised to become the biggest concert film ever in about two days of release. Not accounting for inflation, 2011B次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淛ustin Bieber: Never Say NeverB次元官网网址� holds that mark with $73.1 million across its entire run. Accounting for inflation, it will be harder for B次元官网网址淭he Eras TourB次元官网网址� to catch B次元官网网址淲oodstock,B次元官网网址� which grossed $50 million in 1970, a total that translates to nearly $400 million today.
In MarcusB次元官网网址� theaters, like many other chains, there will be friendship bracelet stations. Sound systems have been modified for more of a concert feel. And while Marcus grants it will be strange to see an AMC logo before a film playing in his theaters, he doesnB次元官网网址檛 particularly mind.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 just happy itB次元官网网址檚 there,B次元官网网址� he says.
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at:
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
