box office
Taylor Swift is ready to conquer the box office.
The pop superstar’s new concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, is headed for a $100 million domestic opening, according to early estimates by AMC Theatres, per The Hollywood Reporter. Hollywood studios are reportedly projecting that the movie’s opening weekend could earn between $90-$110 million.
The Eras Tour film grossed a whopping $39 million on Friday (Oct. 13), placing it along other blockbusters like Spider-Man: No Way Home ($39.2 million) and Joker ($39.4 million), THR reports. The concert movie has a chance at becoming the biggest October opening of all in North America if it surpasses Joker, according to Comscore.
By the end of the weekend, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour will likely become the top-grossing contemporary music concert film of all time. Justin Bieber‘s Never Say Never movie, released in 2011, currently sits at No. 1 on the top 10 list with a domestic gross of $73 million, according to boxofficemojo.com.
Following its release on Thursday (Oct. 12), the Eras Tour film had already broken records for single-day advance ticket sales revenue in the AMC Theatres’ 103-year history with $26 million in the first 24 hours of onsale, the company said in early September.
Swift was on hand for the world premiere of the movie at The Grove in Los Angeles on Wednesday (Oct. 11), where she delivered a three-minute speech and gave shoutouts to her band, dancers and, of course, Swifties.
“I’ve always had fun doing this. I can’t believe I get to do music as a career. That’s crazy,” the singer said. “I’ve always had so much fun doing it. 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 movie is also opening overseas, where AMC predicts a global start in the range of $150 million, according to THR. International grosses will be available on Sunday (Oct. 15).
The R-rated movie has been a moviegoing constant since 1968, when the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) created the modern rating system.
R of course stands for “Restricted,” which initially meant “Persons under 16 not admitted, unless accompanied by parent or adult guardian.” That age threshold was upped to 17 in 1970.
We’ve had movies rated R (and G, for general audiences) in every iteration of the rating system. The two other ratings during the first two years of the system (1968-70) were M (“Suggested for mature audiences – parental discretion advised”) and X (“Persons under 16 not admitted”).
The three other ratings under the current system are PG (Parental Guidance Suggested), PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned) and NC-17 (adults only).
The modern ratings system was created in 1968 to replace the Motion Picture Production Code, also known as the “Hays Code” – which had been in place since 1930. Such ground-breaking films as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Blow-Up (both 1966) made the old code seem archaic. Jack Valenti, who had become president of the MPAA in May 1966, took the lead in creating a new system. On Nov. 1, 1968, the voluntary MPAA film rating system took effect. (The MPAA became the MPA in 2019 when they dropped the word America from their name.)
Let’s take a look at the 10 highest-grossing R-rated films of all time, according to boxofficemojo.com. All of the films in the top 10 are from this century, which makes sense, owing to higher ticket prices. To give you an idea of the popular R-rated films from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, we looked deeper on the boxofficemojo.com list. Here are the top three R-rated films, in descending order, from each of those decades.
1970s: The Exorcist (1973), National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978), The Godfather (1972)
1980s: Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Rain Man (1988), Fatal Attraction (1987)
1990s: Saving Private Ryan (1998), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Pretty Woman (1990)
A current hit, Oppenheimer, has already made this list. It also surpassed Bad Boys for Life to become the top-grossing R-rated film of the 2020s. (No. 3 for the decade: John Wick: Chapter 4.)
Todd Phillips directed three of 10 highest-grossing R-rated films of all-time – the first two films in The Hangover trilogy and Joker. Bradley Cooper starred in three of the 10 highest-grossing R-rated films of all time – the first two Hangover films and American Sniper. (Movie buffs should check out our lists of the top 10 box-office hits of 2023 and the 30 highest-grossing films directed or co-directed by women. Spoiler alert: Barbie heads both lists.)
Here are the 10 highest-grossing R-rated films of all time, according to boxofficemojo.com.
The Hangover Part II
Diljit Dosanjh, the Punjabi singer and performer whose colorful, dance-packed set at Coachella became a viral sensation on the internet, has now also found success on the big screen with his new film, Jodi, Released by Rhythm Boyz Entertainment in the United States this weekend, the musical grossed $734,000 on just 125 screens. While modest compared to blockbuster U.S. releases, that’s a big number for a Punjabi film Stateside.
Written and directed by Amberdeep Singh, Jodi is a musical love story starring Dosanjh and Nimrat Khaira as two artists who set out on a painstaking journey to redefine the Punjabi folk music scene in the 1980s. In April, the film broke the record for the most viewed Punjabi trailer in 24 hours, with approximately 12 million fans watching on YouTube.
“He’s unique in that his overall presence, his attire, and his music are very traditional,” says Dosanjh’s manager, Sonali Singh. “He’s not trying to change to make himself into something that’s he not in order to reach out to a larger audience.”
Festival promoter Goldenvoice shared a reel of his first performance during Weekend 1 of Coachella. The clip garnered more views on Instagram than any other artist’s set posted from the official festival account.
“We knew that his performance was going to be appreciated, but the reception he received went well beyond our expectations,” says Singh. “And we also love the fact how his community and larger Indian audiences, along with other celebrities and media houses all across globe were able to come together for this moment and support Singh.”
Dosanjh’s mesmerizing set had called for 25 band members and 40 dancers, both of which needed to be reduced in size to accommodate time pressure and staging issues. Singh says that in India, Dosanjh’s performance was compared to an Academy Award win and was watched and commented on by most television outlets.
“It was a very proud moment for fans in India,” she says “Many back at home will never get to attend Coachella and his performance was very special for them.”
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