You win some and you lose some — even if you are Taylor Swift.
Just as the pop superstar singer was arriving on the red carpet at Sunday’s Golden Globes ceremony in Beverly Hills, AMC Theatres announced that her concert film The Eras Tour passed up Michael Jackson’s 2009 posthumous This Is It at the global box office to become the top-grossing concert and documentary film of all time, not adjusted for inflation.
Swift was at the Globes in support of her Eras Tour, which was among the movies nominated for the first-ever award for best cinematic and box office achievement. The rules of the category require that a film can only be eligible if has earned at least $150 million at the worldwide box office, including $100 million or more in North America. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie — likewise a female-fueled film — was the inaugural winner.
According to AMC, The Eras Tour finished Sunday with a worldwide tally of $261.6 million, including north of $180 million in North America. The movie was able to achieve its latest milestone after earning $8.7 million in its first week of play in China.
Critics consider The Eras Tour to be a straight-up concert film, while This Is It squarely fell in the documentary/concert category.
Before the release of Swift’s concert film, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never held the record for the top-grossing concert film domestically with a lifetime total of $73 million, not adjusted for inflation. It earned another $26 million overseas for a global total of $99 million. This Is It earned $72.1 million in North America and $261.2 million globally.
The Eras Tour — a box office unicorn — has shattered numerous records since launching in late summer and was one of the most successful and profitable films of 2023 considering it cost a mere $15 million to produce. Swift and her team bypassed the major Hollywood studios and pacted directly with AMC to distribute the film in cinemas around the globe, and not just in AMC locations.
“On behalf of all of us at AMC Theatres, I send my congratulations and eternal gratitude to Taylor Swift for her remarkable and record-setting box office performance,” AMC Entertainment chair-CEO Adam Aron said in Sunday’s statement announcing the latest milestone. “Her spectacular performance delighted fans around the world and serves as another strong reminder about the power of extraordinary filmmaking and magic of movie theaters.”