2023-10-14 16:10:00
The mood Friday night inside AMC 16 was gleeful. There were sparkles. So many sparkles!
There were five-year-olds in matching red heart sunglasses and their mothers in matching Taylor Swift shirts. There were groups of friends helping each other apply red lipstick, and groups posing for photos in front of a Taylor Swift movie poster. Strangers told strangers they looked amazing. Then we all settled into our sold-out seats and waited with anticipation for Taylor Swift to come onstage, on screen.
Dozens of fans outside the theatre line up to take pictures with a Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour movie posters at AMC Baton Rouge 16 on its opening night Friday, October 13, 2023.
Javier Gallegos
The experience was, in other words, kind of, almost, a little bit like attending the Eras concert tour. But it was a movie, one of around 30 showings in one theater in Baton Rouge on one night, one of thousands around the country over the weekend and thousands more to come over the next few weeks.
“Welcome to the Eras Tour!” Swift says.
We screamed. People danced in their seats to “Miss Americana,” the opening song, and later in the aisles. When Taylor put her hands in a heart shape above her head after “Fearless,” so did half the theater. There were tears. There was hugging. Two young girls twirled each other around during “Enchanted.” We chanted the “secret” chant during “Delicate.” It was an absolute blast.
For many moviegoers, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” is a chance to see the Eras concert they couldn’t see in person. Tickets were notoriously expensive and hard to get. Hundreds of fans even sat outside stadiums to hear, even if they couldn’t see, and be part of the event.
Ashley Alexander gets her picture taken by her step-daughter, Gwyneth, in front of a Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour movie poster at AMC Baton Rouge 16 on its opening night Friday, October 13, 2023.
Javier Gallegos
“This is my first time seeing it, and I thought it was great,” said Shelbi Rayborn, 32. “I got emotional.”
Others saw the concert live, in Denver or Dallas or Chicago, and were thrilled to relive it.
“It’s cool to see up close because I couldn’t see that well in person,” said Avery Watson, 17.
Her friend Amelia Allemond said it felt like being behind the scenes. Both girls stood after the movie, arms around each other singing “Long Live,” which plays through the credits.
“This is our song, because it represents us graduating and getting older,” said Watson.
“We’ve followed her through every era. She reaches every stage of our life,” said Allemond.
This is the power of Swift.
Taylor Swift performs during “The Eras Tour,” Monday, Aug. 7, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Chris Pizzello
She’s 33-years-old and her first album came out in 2006. People in their mid-30s, like myself, have literally followed her through the eras, experiencing high-school drama, changing friendships, relationship highs and lows, all with Taylor. But her effect spans generations.
“It’s the connection you create with her even though you don’t know her,” said 13-year-old Phoebe Bailey.
Her mother, Cindy Bailey, said she wasn’t a Taylor Swift fan until attending the Reputation tour with her daughter.
“Seeing her love it, I love it just as much. I think she’s a good role model for kids,” Cindy Bailey said.
Phoebe and her friend Olivia handed me friendship bracelets before I left, a sweet tradition that started during the concert tour when fans were inspired by a line in Swift’s song, “You’re On Your Own Kid.”
I was lucky enough to attend the Eras concert in Chicago in June, and the overriding theme of the night was kindness and joy. Everyone was so happy, and so nice. My friends and I kept saying it felt different from other concerts or big events. People volunteered to take photos of each other and asked people behind them if they could see. They complimented each other in the bathroom and gushed over their favorite songs. We, like thousands of others, made friendship bracelets and traded them with strangers before the show.
The movie had the same vibe. Even my husband, who I practically dragged to the theater and was one of only a handful of men there, was dancing in his seat by the time the Fearless era hit (who can hear “You Belong With Me” and not dance?).
“I had a great time. I knew more songs than I thought. It was a really fun crowd, like a carnival atmosphere” he said. “She’s very impressive.”
Swifties have known for years that she’s impressive, but the past year has cemented her as an icon. She sold out 150 shows through 2024 (including in New Orleans, where many movie attendees said they tried to get tickets but failed). Her earnings from the tour are estimated at $4.1 billionthe most of any musical act in history. The tour has contributed billions to the worldwide economy; even the government gave her credit.
“May was the strongest month for hotel revenue in Philadelphia since the onset of the pandemic, in large part due to an influx of guests for the Taylor Swift concerts in the city,” wrote the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia in its “Beige Book.”
On Aug. 31, the day the movie was announced, it shattered AMC’s record for single-day advance ticket sales, raking in $26 million. Last week, AMC said it had generated more than $100 million in global presales. On Thursday, it sold $2.8 million in ticket sales, which is not particularly high but surprising for an opening announced only eight hours before showtime. Expectations for the weekend range from $100-150 million, box office analysts told CNBC.
The Chicago concert outdid my expectations, so no movie could do it justice. One of the best parts of the concert was the production of it all, the dancing and lights and background images. “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” directed by Sam Wrench and filmed over three nights in August at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., spends most of the 2 hours and 48 minute running time zoomed in on Swift. I wished we could have seen more of the whole scene, especially during “The Man” and “Look What You Made Me Do,” where the sets were elaborate and part of the story, or during the dance-heavy powerhouses of the “Reputation” era.
But it’s a small complaint.
Throughout “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” the theater sat rapt and teary eyed. It was undoubtedly more powerful up close. And it was fun to see Swift’s expressions on an IMAX screen. Her winks and grins and increasingly sweaty bangs. She and her backup singers and dancers seemed to be having a wonderful time, though they’d done it all dozens of times before. Their joy is infectious. The entire theater was on its feet cheering at the end. We might as well have been watching it live.
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