On Aug. 31, 2023, Taylor Swift announced her “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” movie going into theaters on Friday, October 13, knowing that 13 is Swift’s lucky number. Fans all around North America quickly rushed to buy tickets for the film on AMC, Cinemark, Regal and Fandango for the opening date. Within the first week of the announcement, almost all shows were sold out.
The “Eras Tour” is an ongoing concert by the singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift. In 2020, she was to have her “Lover Fest Tour,” but could not due to COVID-19. During the pandemic, Taylor Swift released three albums, “Folklore,” “Evermore” and “Midnights.” Once she could finally tour again, she decided it was only right to present a concert that showcases all her albums. The first show of Swift’s tour took place on March 17, 2023, five months after her 10th album “Midnights” was released. The tour is scheduled to conclude on Nov. 24, 2024. The show goes through 44 songs split into 10 different acts for each of her albums and lasts about three hours. The show includes an acoustic set where she plays two surprise songs for her fans, unique to every show. While the concert was ongoing, Swift released her re-recorded album “Speak Now” which came out on January 7th, and “1989” which came out on October 27 to gain ownership back. She also released music videos for the songs “Karma” and “I Can See You.”
“The concert and movie were really good and interesting. My highlight of the night was definitely the ‘Reputation’ set. During ‘Reputation’ we got up and went to the front [to dance],” FHS freshman Ron Shpigel said.
Once the movie was released, people posted themselves on TikTok at the front of the theater dancing their hearts out to her film. Many people also chose to enjoy the concert from their seats. If people wanted to stand up, the seats in the front were best but if people wanted to sit, the seats in the back were better, according to FHS freshman Maya Panse.
Attendees of the Eras Tour not only had to scramble to get tickets in the first place, but many also had difficulty getting seats with a good view of the stage. Ticketmaster had broken the day presale came out since so many people were trying to buy tickets with a good view of the stage as fast as possible.
According to billboard.com, original ticket prices ranged from $49-499. According to Business Insider, the secondary market prices ranged from $5,000 to $30,000. While the ticket prices for the eras tour movie ranged from $13.13 to $19.89.
“The movies were much cheaper,” said Panse as she bought tickets.
Even if the movie tickets were cheap, it was difficult for some fans to decide what seats to choose. To some, it did not matter where they sat as long as they were able to see Taylor Swift shine. When the movie tickets first came out, the tickets were quickly sold out.
“There were only a few seats and times left,” Shpigel said.
Fans who were not present at the concert found the film to be equally enjoyable as those who went.
“When I went I didn’t really experience the concert fully. It was really interesting to me seeing the little details I couldn’t see in the concert” Shpigel said.
At the movie, people could still enjoy the different facial expressions that Swift had on, the way she danced, and the things that could not be seen from some seats. According to the New York Times, in the film you can actually experience the way Swift skips through the stage wanting to keep the concert feel fun.
Swift has performed so many songs on her tour that she could not fit in every song performed in her film. Fans were disappointed in songs that Taylor decided not to include in her film. The songs that were not included in the film were “The Archer” from Lover, “No body, no crime” (featuring Haim) from “Evermore,” “Long Live” from “Speak Now,” “Wildest Dreams” from 1989 and “Cardigan” from Folklore. These songs were most likely cut from the film for the sake of having a reasonable run time. The movie runs for about two hours and forty-eight minutes while the actual concert lasts for about three hours and fifteen minutes.
People would attend the movie in the same way that they would for the concert, as seen by numerous TikToks.
“I traded bracelets with lots of little kids and I dressed up slightly as the ‘1989’ album,” Shpigel said.
The experience at the movie theater demonstrated the movie had not just added to Taylor Swift’s list of accomplishments but also was an innovative way for “Swifties” to come together as a community.
