On Wednesday night, the Grove rolled out a massive red carpet for the world premiere of Taylor Swift‘s “Eras Tour” concert film in Los Angeles.
“I appreciate you being here because this night is a core memory for me and you’re a part of it,” Swift said introducing the highly-anticipated movie before a packed auditorium of Swifties, celebrities (and celebrity Swifties), including Adam Sandler, Julia Garner, Maren Morris, Flava Flav, Karamo Brown, Hayley Kiyoko, Becca Tilley, Simu Liu, Molly Sims, Jennifer Meyer and Mariska Hargitay, as well as the Grove owner Rick Caruso.
The open-air L.A. mall was completely shut down for the occasion, including all restaurants and shops, which left plenty of room for Swifties donning their best “Bejeweled” fits and friendship bracelets to line both sides of the red carpet and scream the lyrics to Swift’s latest hit, “Cruel Summer.” Instead of the usual Frank Sinatra standards playing through the speakers, “Fearless” was blasting in the parking garage when Variety pulled in.
Then, just before 6 p.m., the moment they’d been waiting for: Taylor Swift — dressed in a gorgeous tanzanite Oscar de la Renta gown (she’s in her “1989” era, after all), accessorized with a diamond necklace and a glamorous curly bob — strutted onto the red carpet.
As the pop superstar posed for cameras in front of the AMC marquee with her tour dancers, fans screamed with glee. The volume only increased as Swift made her way down the carpet to pose for selfies, sign autographs and accept their friendship bracelets.
Taylor Swift with dancers and band at the “The Eras Tour” concert movie world premiere at AMC The Grove 14
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
In anticipation of the event, some streets around the West Hollywood shopping plaza were closed for much of Wednesday, with security routing attending guests into one entrance. But that didn’t stop massive crowds from forming on sidewalks and crosswalks craning to catch a glimpse of Swift. News helicopters also circled overhead for hours.
Fans captured footage of Swift entering the venue with her mother Andrea around 5:30 p.m. PT, with the world premiere screening scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
The “Eras Tour” film took over 13 (Swift’s lucky number) of AMC’s theaters, which were packed full of giddy fans who were prepared to pass out friendship bracelets and dance in the aisles. Inside the venue, guests enjoyed popcorn and sodas, presented in collective buckets and cups.
After the carpet, Swift addressed each theater individually, delivering three-minute long speeches to the audience and explaining why this evening was so meaningful.
“Every single person in this theater has been hand selected and hand picked and invited to this night because you’ve shown some sort of extra type of support for this tour, and I appreciate that more than you could possibly know,” Swift began, standing at the front of the auditorium. “I’m always looking out for people with elevated levels of passion, Incredible senses of humor on the internet, attention to detail. These things are very important to me. So thank you for everything you’ve done that just got us all in this one room.”
Swift then marveled over the experience she’s had on the road this time around, adding, “I’ve always had fun doing this. I can’t believe I get to do music as a career — that’s crazy. I’ve never had this much fun in my life as I have had on the Eras Tour. It is far and away just the most electric experience of my life.”
The reason for that, she explained, was due in large part to her band, dancers and crew, who were seated in the theater alongside one group of Variety reporters.
“We did this show rain or shine, in sickness and in health, no matter what was going on in our lives. And we did it with a grin on our face because of what greeted us on the other side,” Swift continued. “What you guys were doing in the audience — the amount of care and preparation and passion [and] intensity that you put into coming to these shows. … You pulled us out of anything rough that might have been going on in our lives. You let us forget about it for 3.5 hours every night on that stage. So thank you so much for doing that for us.”
As the audience cheered and applauded, Swift wrapped up her remarks: “I think the fans will see — and the dancers, you’ll all see — how much you are main characters in this film. And I love you so much. I appreciate you being here because this night it is a core memory for me and you’re a part of it. And you decided you wanted to spend your evening here with us. So I really hope you have fun. I hope you love it so much.”
Then, Swift made her way to a final theater where another contingent of Variety reporters were stationed
“Hi, so you’re stuck with me cuz I’m gonna sit with you and watch this thing,” Swift announced before launching into her thank you’s. “Let’s have a blast guys. Thank you for coming!” she concluded before taking a seat alongside her family. While the film played, Swift was spotted mimicking along to the hand choreography from “Willow” and singing along to everything, so, yes, a blast was had!
In typical Taylor fashion, Easter eggs were abound. Tickets for the event read, “Taylor Swift and AMC Theatres are enchanted to welcome you,” a reference to Swift’s 2010 power ballad “Enchanted,” which gets a magical moment in the middle of the tour’s set list. On the envelope was a nod to “Bejeweled”: “You make the whole place shimmer,” and the golden lights in the trees around the Grove simply enhanced fans’ glow.
Also joining Swift for the premiere was filmmaker Sam Wrench, whose team captured Swift’s epic concert across three shows at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood in August.
Taylor Swift and Sam Wrench attend “The Eras Tour” concert movie world premiere at AMC The Grove 14.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
About an hour before hitting the carpet for the L.A. premiere, Swift announced that the Eras Tour Concert film will debut a day early, with tickets going on sale by 10 a.m. on Thursday for screenings beginning at 6 p.m. that evening, due to “unprecedented demand.”
Captioning the post “premiere day,” Swift wrote: “I can’t really wrap my head around this but…. Look what you genuinely made me do: Due to unprecedented demand we’re opening up early access showings of The Eras Tour Concert Film on Thursday in America and Canada!! As in… tomorrow.”
The film, a cinematic rendering of Swift’s record-breaking, three-hour stadium tour, will open in 3,850 cinemas in the U.S. starting Oct. 13 and is projected to open with at least $100 million at the domestic box office. However, the launch could be as high as $125 million, according to some estimates. Internationally, the movie is opening in 4,150 theaters in 90 countries and aiming to bring in an additional $30 million to $50 million. That would put the film at a worldwide opening of $150 million to $175 million.
“Eras Tour” has already surpassed $100 million in advance ticket sales worldwide (which includes domestic and international), according to its official distributor AMC Theatres. It took less than 24 hours for the film to break AMC’s U.S. record for the highest ticket sales revenue during a single day in the company’s 103-year history. This means it enters theaters as the highest-grossing concert film in history, surpassing the entire run of the genre’s former record holder, 2011’s “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” ($99 million).
The concert film comes after wrapping a U.S. run for the tour, though Swift has added North American dates for fall 2024. She’s currently in the middle of the trek’s international dates, with Asian and European globetrotting to come in the next year.
“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” film will play at least four showtimes per day on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at every AMC theater location in the United States. The cinema chain promises it will “continue to take steps to reach agreements with additional cinema operators throughout the world to play this spectacular Taylor Swift tour-de-force,” per an AMC press release.