Julia Mongan
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
After the highly anticipated and successful ‘Eras Tour’ by Taylor Swift, Swift released a documentary style of this concert exclusively to theaters with close-up and personal footage. With much talk and statistical reports being released about how the tour boosted the economy in several cities, the movie itself has seen similar success from a theater standpoint.
Theaters typically come to a slower season in sales after the summertime with school being in session and the weather getting colder, yet the ‘Eras Tour’ has given an unusual spike in sales for this time period, selling out almost solely in presales on opening weekend.
“The presales for this event were 72.8% higher than any other tickets we had sales for that coming weekend”, stated Alyese Carrington, Cinemark Manager. “This included ticket sales for our well anticipated Exorcist: The Believer, which released just the weekend prior. I’d say our sales spiked immediately as we had sold out theaters on just presales”.
With “Swifties” being such a dedicated and large fanbase, the movie was very well anticipated since its announcement and fell just a couple thousand short of reaching $100 million in sales on opening weekend, according to Carrington.
Alongside selling tickets, theaters provided merchandise such as popcorn buckets, reusable cups, posters, and various other items tailored for the Eras Tour movie. The sales for these items brought in such high revenue, over double the amount originally delivered needed to be provided for the second weekend of the movie showing.
“Whenever we have merchandise tailored to a movie, our guests go crazy over them; this time around, we were not only tailoring to moviegoers but also fans,” stated Carrington. “We knew that we would need these items in full stock. We’ve seen great sales for these items, and I believe it’s because we saw quite a few people purchase some merch for those who weren’t with them or give them away as gifts”.
Overall, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour documentary allowed for an unusual boost in sales for this business across the country. This has also allowed employees to continue with a consistent flow of working hours rather than being cut due to low sales during this slow season for theaters.