After a 5 year break from touring, award-winning American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has been traveling around the globe for her Eras Tour. In this tour, she performs all of her musical “eras” for her fans. Whether these songs were old-time favorites or newly-released, the concert gives her fans the chance to follow Swift through her journey as a musical artist.
With over 101,000,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, Taylor Swift has taken the world by storm with her music, grossing a total of $2.2 billion dollars in ticket sales throughout North America. Due to her rising popularity, tickets to attend her concert can be expensive, ranging from $49 all the way up to $899 for VIP packages. With resellers hiking up the prices even more, some tickets are even in the thousands. These prices can be inconvenient and unrealistic for many, making it difficult for fans to support Swift at her concerts.
With the popularity of her Eras Tour skyrocketing, she recently announced the production and screening of “The Eras Tour Concert Film.” In a recent Instagram post, Taylor wrote: “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 on the big screen soon. Starting October 13th, you’ll be able to experience the concert film in theaters in North America.” The film is set to premiere in 2023, and will give fans the opportunity to experience the Eras Tour from the comfort of their local movie theater. Additionally, the price of the movie tickets is much less than that of the tour, giving fans an opportunity to experience the Eras Tour at a much cheaper cost.
Many fans at Townsend Harris High School are excited about the new film adaptation of Swift’s Eras Tour. Sophomore Bella Chen said, “I’m so excited for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert film. I hope it captures [the essence] of all of her amazing performances and the different styles of music she [had] throughout her career. I can’t wait to see all the stunning visuals and hear Taylor’s incredible voice on the big screen.”
Others feel differently and voiced that it may be unfair to those who paid to attend the Eras Tour concert beforehand. Junior Marcelo Matias said, “I feel like it’s just another way for her to collect money. Don’t get me wrong, she’s strong for doing [a] non-stop 3 hour show. Her music is great and while she’s giving [those who] couldn’t afford tickets or didn’t [have] the chance to buy one [a] chance to see her shows, [she’s] getting rich off of it. She could’ve made [the film] free on Netflix [instead], but [the movie] can [still] be a good way to enjoy her music with friends in a theater.”
With the release of Swift’s concert film, many movies were forced to delay their own releases. Following the announcement of the film’s premiere, movies including The Exorcist: Believer, What Happens Later, and Ordinary Angels swiftly rescheduled their premiere dates to accommodate for the rising popularity of Taylor Swift’s new film. The directors of each film posted to Twitter, admitting that Taylor Swift’s announcement prompted them to change their release dates to not match that of Swift’s.
Junior Puja Biswas said, “I understand that Taylor Swift has a [large] fan base, making it hard for people to watch two [popular] films at once. It may be hard for viewers to decide on which movie to watch, creating competition between the two films. In the [perspective] of the filmmakers, it was a smart move for them to switch the dates so that they can [maximize] their profits and sales.”
“I think Taylor is just someone that everyone loves so when she comes out with a movie she’s gonna dominate the cinema industry,” said junior Denise Chan.
