How Taylor Swift’s big reputation is impacting DC-area movie theaters
The love story between Taylor Swift and her fans is on full display in theaters around the D.C. area as The Eras Tour film has Swifties dancing, singing and, of course, trading friendship bracelets.
The pop star’s big reputation made for sold-out theaters and between $95 million and $97 opening weekend — far more than any past concert movie.
The film’s release last Thursday came at a time when some theaters are starving for diverse content outside of the typical slate of horror flicks in October, according to Shanna Mueller, who works as a marketing and brand strategist for Warehouse Cinema.
Warehouse Cinema’s two largest auditoriums fit around 200 people and were sold out for multiple showtimes all weekend, Mueller said.
Jessica Hubbard, who lives in D.C., has already seen the film twice: once in Chinatown on Thursday and again in Crystal City on Friday. Hubbard attended Swift’s shows in Texas, Pennsylvania and New Jersey and plans to see her again next year in Paris and New Orleans.
Hubbard said she’s attended several concerts alone and has even made friends at shows. Making connections is something theater managers have seen translate from stadiums to theaters.
“People came down, got up out of their seats and made that area in front of the screen kind of their own dance floor,” Bryan Roy, the media manager at Alamo Cinema Drafthouse, told WTOP. “People of all ages were getting up and dancing and again, making friends — people who showed up separately were leaving together, that’s really heartwarming.”
How theaters merged concerts and movies
Many fans came dressed for the occasion in costumes.
“It was just a nostalgic moment for me,” Arianna Taylor, the community liaison manager at Warehouse Cinema’s Leitersburg location and a self-proclaimed Swiftie, said. “There was a lot of little girls dressed in Taylor Swift’s ‘Fearless’ era … some little boys dressed in Travis Kelce jerseys.”
Typically, with films like “Barbie” or “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” Warehouse Cinema puts on events to enhance the moviegoing experience.
“But with the Eras Tour, in particular, we knew it was going to be something different, it was going to be an event all in itself,” Taylor said.
The theater had a selfie wall, special drink and a bracelet-making station.
Similarly, Alamo Drafthouse theaters sold “Alamo’s version,” spoofing “Taylor’s Version” — which is how Swift denotes music she’s rerecorded. The theater also passed out goody bags.
Alamo Drafthouse also relaxed two of its policies, allowing kids 13 and older to attend the movie without a guardian and reeling in its strict no-talking policy to allow for a “party atmosphere.”
“There’s really nothing like seeing it on a big screen and with a Dolby Atmos sound system. That’s really what brings people out. I think that’s the power of Taylor Swift, to bring people out to the theater,” Taylor said.
Unlike some of Swift’s prior films, The Eras Tour shows the concert straight-through, with the only interruptions to the music being the popstar’s brief speeches or transitions between sets.
In some ways, the movie could be preferred over stadium experience, according to Bryan Loy, field marketing and social manager for Alamo Drafthouse in the D.C. area.
“The camera gives you kind of a more cinematic, more sweeping, more up-close and personal view than you would otherwise have from the seats you’re sitting in … for a fraction of the cost of what Ticketmaster will charge you,” Loy said.
Is Taylor the next ‘Barbie’?
Swift’s film comes as audiences have came out in big numbers for “escapist entertainment,” Loy said.
Some have coined 2023 “the year of the Barbie,” but Hubbard said she thinks it’s “just the year of the woman.”
“It’s one of the first times, maybe ever, that women have had so many wins with things in entertainment, where we have a safe space to just kind of be ourselves, to play dress-up, to make friends, to not be stressed or concerned about our safety, just being in it,” Hubbard said.
Loy also equated the response to the concert movie to the summer’s Barbie boom.
“I think Taylor Swift has that longevity,” he said. “She’s reinvented herself so many times over the years and conquered so many different genres that she’s amassed this fan base that crosses over multiple generations and even music taste.”
A new era of concert films?
The concert movie could propel a new era of concert films that focus less on behind-the-scenes content and more on giving up-close, personal footage of the show.
“This was, I mean, truly a concert experience from beginning to end,” Taylor said. “I think personally, we might see more films like this.”
Swift’s film is expected to run in theaters for at least 13 weeks. Meanwhile, Beyoncé’s concert movie’s premiere is on Nov. 30.
Mueller said the film shows how theaters are shifting toward giving audiences a “communal experience.”
“It’s not just that about the film, but it’s actually about bringing people together around a common interest,” Mueller said.
In an “unorthodox” approach to releasing a film, the movie was announced a month before it hit theaters. But despite the scramble to staff theaters, Loy said the response from audiences was “effusive joy”
“It really is affirming and it could it could mean something for the future of movie theaters,” he said.