Taylor Swift had one last “Eras Tour” trick up her sleeve, as the pop superstar on Thursday announced a concert tour film to be released beginning Friday, Oct. 13. Ticket sales kicked off immediately with the announcement.
Swiftie symbolic numbers are, of course, coded right into the ticket prices: Adult admissions are $19.89, while children and seniors are $13.13 (taxes, fees and Imax/Dolby upcharges still apply). The concert film runs 2 hours and 40 minutes, according to Cinemark’s website — that’s about 50 minutes shorter than the concert itself, so if you’ve purchased tickets to a future concert don’t worry, it seems like Swift is still keeping some surprises for the in-person show.
“The Eras Tour has been the most meaningful, electric experience of my life so far and I’m overjoyed to tell you that it’ll be coming to the big screen soon,” Swift posted on Instagram, along with a trailer (below). “Starting Oct 13th you’ll be able to experience the concert film in theaters in North America! Tickets are on sale now at amctheatres.com. Eras attire, friendship bracelets, singing and dancing encouraged… 1, 2, 3 LGB!!!! (iykyk).”
AMC is acting as distributor, a new venture for the exhibition giant. But the film won’t just be limited to AMC theater locations, with Cinemark joining the effort in the U.S., where other exhibitors were also expected to participate as sales come online. Variance Films, for instance, will assist with booking some non-AMC locations.
Ticket sales were designed to be free of trouble: AMC said in a statement that it had been quietly preparing capacity to handle five times the current record for movie tickets. The exhibitor promises to run at least four showtimes per day on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with no refunds – which is to discourage re-sellers from buying bulk only to return unsold inventory.
Still, AMC isn’t feeling out of the woods yet.
“Guests wanting to be the first to buy their tickets online may experience delays, longer-than-usual ticket-purchase waiting-room times and possible outages,” the company said in a statement. “AMC is committed to ensuring any delays or outages are addressed as quickly as possible.”
Anything short of a congressional intervention would be considered a success beyond anyone’s wildest dreams: Earlier this year, repeated “Eras Tour” sales snafus caused bad blood between Ticketmaster and congress, which held hearings that dinged the concert retailer’s reputation.
To ensure live concert tickets won’t go out of style in Europe, the film won’t play overseas at least until Swift completes her global concert tour, which will occupy most of 2024 in Europe, Japan, Australia and elsewhere.