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Credit: Inside the Magic
It’s official: Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have saved the theatrical film industry.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2019, few could have predicted the utterly catastrophic effects it would have on the entertainment industry. In particular, theatrically released films (and the theater chains that show them) were hit hard by quarantine and distancing restrictions. Innumerable movies bombed due to audiences simply being unable or unwilling to visit theaters, while studios and theater chains alike saw release strategies thrown into disarray.
Five years later, things are still pretty shaky for the film industry, even as overall box office numbers have begun to trend upward. But when it comes to watching things in a cinema, the biggest theater chain in the world says it has Taylor Swift and Beyoncé to thank for rescuing it.
Related: Taylor Swift Reveals New Songs, Only Available to Disney Fans
AMC Entertainment (also known as AMC Theatres) recently released its fourth-quarter earnings call, in which CEO Adam Aron triumphantly revealed that overall revenue had increased 12% and operating profit had nearly tripled. According to him, this has entirely to do with the 2023 release of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour and Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, two massively popular concert films that rescued an entire industry.
Adam Aron said on the call that “[W]hat is particularly noteworthy about the box office is how our company, AMC Entertainment, reshaped the box office and how much AMC benefited from our trailblazing industry-leading efforts with our highly successful distribution of two concert movies, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour and Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé.”
Per the earnings call, Taylor Swift’s concert film was not only the highest-grossing movie of the last quarter of 2023, both domestically and worldwide, but it is also the highest-performing concert film ever, as well as the highest-performing documentary. Aron went on to say that “With just these two movies, AMC’s Theaters distribution had a domestic box office gross during the months of October, November and December of ’23 that was only 1.6% less than that of industry behemoth, Disney. And our two films domestically outgrossed all of what was offered theatrically in the quarter by Paramount, by Sony, by Lionsgate, or by any of the other smaller movie makers.”
It is staggering to think that just two people could create such a seismic effect, particularly in an industry as entrenched in its practices and distribution as film. But when the largest theater chain in the world gives full credit to Taylor Swift and Beyoncé for boosting its bottom line to astonishing levels, one has to believe it.
Related: New Disney+ Rule Will Make It Harder To Stream Taylor Swift ‘Eras Tour’
Unsurprisingly, the AMC earnings call also revealed that it is actively looking into distributing more concert films from other artists. It will remain to be seen whether lightning can strike twice (well, three times) or whether the combined power of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé is a unique element that can’t be replicated by other pop stars.
Adam Aron concluded that section of the call by saying, “[O]ur praise for Taylor Swift and for Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has no limit. And you will surely understand why we offer our boundless thanks to these two world-class artists for entrusting AMC to collaborate with them as to the theatrical exhibition of their two masterpiece creations.”
Do you think anyone else can release concert films on the same level as Taylor Swift and Beyoncé? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
in Movies
Nathan Kamal is a Chicago-based writer and comic, who enjoys cooking, hanging out with his cat, and seeing as many movies as possible.
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