Box Office Report: Taylor Swift Enchants The Box Office
Box Office analysis is provided by Daniel Garris of BoxOfficeReport.com.
Weekend Estimates Update - October 13th, 2023 to October 15th, 2023:
AMC Theatres Distribution's release of Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film brought much needed life to the box office this weekend, with an estimated first place debut of $96.0 million. It should be noted that the official opening weekend studio estimate for the concert film is a range of $95.0 million to $97.0 million. Heading into the weekend, Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film had been widely expected to clear the $100 million domestic mark, but obviously the concert film still performed quite well despite just missing the $100 million opening weekend milestone. If the $96.0 million average figure holds, Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film will end up with the second largest opening weekend ever for the month of October; just behind the $96.20 million debut of 2019's Joker. Without taking into account ticket price inflation, Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film is already the highest grossing concert film of all-time domestically (a record which previously belonged to 2011's Justin Bieber: Never Say Never with a total domestic gross of $73.01 million). The very high level of demand to see Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film among fans of Taylor Swift led to record-breaking initial pre-sales, but ultimately, and unsurprisingly, the concert film was unable to keep up that pace closer to and after release. Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film was helped out by having significantly higher than average ticket prices and the film also performed very well on IMAX screens, taking in an estimated $11.1 million from domestic IMAX screens (which represented 11.6 percent of this weekend's overall domestic gross).
Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film looks to have gone over exceptionally well with audiences, as the concert film received a perfect A+ rating on CinemaScore. Going forward, the theatrical release model for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film will be quite unusual, as the concert film won't be playing from Monday through Wednesday this week, but will start shows back up on Thursday and continue playing throughout next weekend. Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film represents the first release for AMC Theatres Distribution and the new distributor already has a second release scheduled with the upcoming release of Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé on December 1.
Internationally (where distribution of the concert film is being handled by Trafalgar), the current weekend estimate range for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film is $31 million to $33 million from 94 international markets. That places the global launch for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film at an estimated range of $126 million to $130 million. While we don't have exact grosses to pass along, international markets Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film opened in first place this weekend included the United Kingdom, Mexico, Australia, Germany and the Philippines. On November 3, Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film will open in additional international markets, including Brazil, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film grossed an estimated $2.03 million from international IMAX screens this weekend, which places the film's global IMAX launch at $13.13 million.
Universal and Blumhouse's The Exorcist: Believer placed in second this weekend with an estimated $11.00 million. While that was down a sizable 58.5 percent from last weekend, the hold was better than expected and was also a respectable second weekend hold for a high-profile horror sequel (espeically given the film's poor critical reviews and mixed word of mouth). This Friday being Friday the 13th clearly helped out The Exorcist: Believer, as well as other horror films in general this weekend. Even when factoring Friday the 13th out, The Exorcist: Believer looks to be a very weekend heavy film in relation to midweek grosses. It also appears that for the most part, holdovers still in wide release were impacted by Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film less than usual for a new release of its size. The ten-day start for The Exorcist: Believer stands at $44.93 million. Without taking into account nearly 20 years of ticket price inflation, The Exorcist: Believer has already surpassed the $41.82 million final domestic gross of 2004's Exorcist: The Beginning (which declined 60.8 percent in its second weekend to gross $7.08 million). Going forward The Exorcist: Believer could be helped out somewhat by the continued lead-up to the Halloween holiday.
Internationally, The Exorcist: Believer grossed an estimated $15.9 million this weekend from 78 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $40.0 million and current global haul to $85.0 million. This weekend saw The Exorcist: Believer debut with $1.7 million in France and $1.5 million in Brazil. Additional totals for The Exorcist: Believer by international market through Sunday include $6.8 million in Mexico, $4.2 million in the United Kingdom, $2.5 million in Spain, $2.4 million in Italy, $1.9 million in Germany, $1.3 million in Australia, $1.3 million in India, $1.2 million in Indonesia and $1.1 million in Argentina. The Exorcist: Believer will open in South Korea this coming Wednesday (October 18).
Paramount's PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie placed in third with an estimated $7.00 million. That represented a solid 38.2 percent decline from last weekend. With percentage holds in general for this weekend's other holdovers in mind, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie may have taken a slight hit this weekend from the arrival of Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film. PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie is on the verge of passing the $50 million domestic mark with a 17-day domestic total of $49.89 million. That is 64.5 percent ahead of the $30.33 million 17-day take of 2021's PAW Patrol: The Movie (which declined 39.8 percent in its third weekend to gross $4.00 million). PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie has already zoomed past the $40.13 million final domestic gross of PAW Patrol: The Movie. Internationally, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie grossed an estimated $24.5 million this weekend from 67 international markets. Respective totals for PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie stand at $76.5 million internationally and at $126.4 million globally. This weekend saw PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie debut with $4.5 million in France, $4.2 million in the United Kingdom, $2.4 million in Poland and $1.9 million in Spain. Additional totals for PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie by international market through Sunday include $14.9 million in China, $6.9 million in Germany, $5.7 million in Mexico and $4.6 million in Australia.
Lionsgate's Saw X held up very nicely this weekend to claim fourth place with an estimated $5.70 million. The well-received horror sequel declined just 27.3 percent from last weekend. That is an especially impressive hold for the Saw franchise, which historically has been quite front-loaded towards opening weekend. In addition to Friday being Friday the 13th, strong critical reviews, good word of mouth and no new horror films entering the marketplace are all factors that helped Saw X out this weekend. The 17-day domestic total for Saw X stands at $41.43 million. That is 20.6 percent ahead of the $34.36 million 17-day gross of 2017's Jigsaw (which declined 47.8 percent to gross $3.42 million in its third weekend) and is already past the $38.05 million final domestic gross of Jigsaw. Internationally, Saw X grossed an estimated $3.5 million this weekend from 56 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $29.9 million and current global haul to $71.3 million.
Disney, 20th Century and New Regency's The Creator rounded out this weekend's top five with an estimated $4.30 million. The Creator stabilized nicely this weekend by declining a very solid 31.1 percent. Despite the nice hold this weekend, the 17-day domestic total for the sci-fi film (which wasn't inexpensive) stands at a modest $32.41 million. Internationally, The Creator grossed an estimated $5.9 million this weekend from 50 international markets. Respective totals for The Creator stand at $46.7 million internationally and at an underwhelming $79.1 million globally. Estimated totals for The Creator by international market through Sunday include $6.5 million in the United Kingdom, $4.7 million in France, $3.9 million in Germany, $2.7 million in Australia, $2.7 million in Spain, $2.0 million in Mexico and $2.0 million in South Korea. The Creator will open in Japan this coming weekend.
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