Taylor Swift is returning to a movie theater near you.
Those are magical words to cinema operators, who all ostensibly became Swifties about two years ago. That’s when the pop star’s most recent theatrical venture, 2023’s wildly successful “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” concert film, set all kinds of box office benchmarks and provided a lifeline to multiplexes during the industry’s dual strikes.
Swift is about to boost attendance again with October’s “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl.” It’s not a traditional film but rather an 89-minute event — packed with a music video and behind- the-scenes footage and commentary — tied to her 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” (As with “The Eras Tour,” Swift says “dancing is optional but very much encouraged.”) Based on strong presales, “Showgirl” is tracking a debut of $35 million to $40 million. While not record breaking, those returns are huge for a release that wasn’t on anyone’s radar until a few weeks ago.
“As soon as I saw her announcement I thought, ‘Clear the decks and make plenty of room.’ People come out for her like crazy,” says Penn Ketchum, owner of Pennsylvania-based Penn Cinema. “It’s a great way to get people to movie theaters who aren’t there regularly.”
Swift’s film is the latest boon to movie theaters, which have benefited in recent months from several unlikely saviors. September was supposed to be all doom and gloom. Instead, Sony-owned Crunchyroll’s anime adventure “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” ($70 million debut) and the Warner Bros. sequel “The Conjuring: Last Rites” (a franchise-record $84 million debut) shattered projections and lifted the sluggish box office. Overall ticket sales for the month are roughly even with September 2024, which is better than expected.
Those wins followed the surprise success of Netflix’s animated “KPop Demon Hunters,” which became the streamer’s most popular film ever before topping the box office with an estimated $18 million when a sing-along edition was released in theaters for two days at the end of August. That’s in addition to several summer-season sleeper hits, including Zach Cregger’s occult thriller “Weapons” ($263 million total), A24’s romantic drama “Materialists” ($103 million total) and “Final Destination: Bloodlines” (a series-best $313 million total).
“I’m an optimist and always have been,” says Regal CEO Eduardo Acuna. “But these results put an exclamation point on my optimism. All of these are mid-budget movies that are supposed to be dead. But they are alive and kicking and performing better than anyone expected.”
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So far, 2025 at the box office has been defined by the defiance of conventional wisdom. Original ideas or untested IP, such as Ryan Coogler’s vampire thriller “Sinners” and video game adaptation “A Minecraft Movie,” have been thriving while major franchises and sequels, from Marvel to “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” to “M3GAN 2.0,” haven’t been reliable.
“When people talk about fatigue, I’ve always just said it’s mediocre movie fatigue,” says Peter Safran, DC Studios’ co-president and “Conjuring” producer. “If you deliver a film that’s unique and meaningful, people can’t wait to go to the theaters. It gives them a reason to get off their couch.”
Audiences could stand to leave the sofa more often. Though the box office is 4% ahead of this time last year, that margin has been rapidly shrinking since the summer. By comparison, revenues in early June were 25% ahead of 2024, per Comscore.
And while moviegoers have been embracing the unfamiliar, not everything new is breaking out. In March, Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17” fizzled, while more recently, Universal’s “Him,” a sports thriller produced by Jordan Peele, and Sony’s “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” a sweeping romantic drama starring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell, misfired. Disappointing grosses for “Him” and “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” weren’t exactly a mystery; those films were saddled with terrible reviews.
Acuna believes there’s another culprit to blame for low turnout. In a recent survey by Regal, audiences cited lack of awareness as their main reason for having skipped a particular film.
“When they don’t work, it’s not necessarily because the movies are not great,” Acuna says. “It’s probably because people didn’t know these movies existed at all.”
From Variety US