Music News

The Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour movie arrives in theaters Friday, October 13.

AMC will offer the film in IMAX and Dolby Cinema as well as standard screenings, with fees varying by format and theatre. In anticipation of an expected rush of interest — a.k.a., a repeat of Ticketmaster’s hectic presale roll-out for the U.S. Eras Tour dates — AMC upgraded its website and ticketing engines to handle more than five times the largest influx of ticket-buying traffic ever experienced by the company.

With all that said, standard tickets are $19.89 (plus tax) for adults and $13.13 for children and seniors (plus tax). The film will be available in AMC theaters in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, as well as certain other movie operators that AMC is working as distributor for in those three countries (Cinemark, Cineplex and Cinepolis).

Every U.S. AMC Theatre location will run the movie at least four times per day on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays while it’s showing.

Tickets are already on sale. Read on for more information on how to get tickets here.

The Eras Tour film was shot over the course of Swift’s first three shows at SoFi Stadium, where she performed a total of six straight shows in early August. The Los Angeles venue attracted a total of nearly 500,000 fans.

The pop star performed a total of six surprise songs during her Aug. 3-5 dates at SoFi, meaning each of them are possible contenders for a featured spot in the film: “I Can See You,” “Maroon,” “Our Song,” “You Are in Love,” “Death by a Thousand Cuts” and “You’re on Your Own, Kid.”

One possible hint as to which of these songs will be included is that the Eras movie trailer shows Swift’s “self-titled” debut as being featured in the film. The sole song from her first album performed at any of the three taped shows was “Our Song,” which cropped up during her acoustic set on Aug. 4.

Plus, against her early tour promise that she wouldn’t repeat any non-Midnights surprise songs, this was Swift’s second time singing “Our Song” during the acoustic section of an Eras show — the first being in Las Vegas in March. Coincidence?

An average Eras Tour concert runs for more than three hours, but Swift’s publicist Tree Paine confirmed to Billboard that the concert film has an official runtime of 2 hours, 45 mins.

It’s unclear what parts of Swift’s show her team may have shaved off to get the movie down to a shorter length.

The Eras Tour film was directed by Sam Wrench, the filmmaker behind past concert movies like Billie Eilish Live at the O2 and BTS: Permission to Dance. The Emmy-winning, Grammy-nominated creative specializes in shooting live music content, with a resumé that includes projects for Lizzo, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, The Weeknd and Mary J. Blige.

Notice anything odd about those ticket prices?

AMC is charging a standard $19.89 fee (minus tax) for adults, a clear callback to Swift’s 2014 fifth studio album 1989 — which, coincidentally, is also her next “Taylor’s Version” re-record on the docket, with 1989 (Taylor’s Version) arriving this October. Plus, kids and senior tix are priced $13.13, a not-so-subtle reference to Swift’s famous lucky number, 13.

Then, not so much an Easter egg but something worth decoding, Swift included this in her announcement post for the film: “1, 2, 3 LGB!!!! (iykyk).”

Need an explainer? Allow Billboard to translate. Dating back to the Reputation Tour, it’s been a tradition for Swifties to yell “1, 2, 3, let’s go b-tch!” in between the opening refrain and first verse of “Delicate,” which Swift still sings live at the Eras Tour. It all started with a viral video from one fan who originated the phrase, and you can be sure to hear it ripple through the audience in the Eras Tour movie.

It seems like Swift is doing her best to make the Eras Tour film viewing experience feel as similar as possible to experiencing an actual Eras Tour concert. That’s because she encouraged fans to engage in all the same festivities as they would at a live show when they hit theaters for a screening: “Eras attire, friendship bracelets, singing and dancing encouraged,” she wrote in her announcement for the film.

Inspired by a lyric in Midnights track “You’re on Your Own, Kid,” Swifties have spent the summer exchanging handmade friendship bracelets at Eras Tour shows — even celebrities have gotten in on the trend!

“‘Tis The Damn Season” is usually a fixture in the Evermore set list, but it probably won’t be included in the Eras Tour concert film. That’s because it was replaced with “No Body, No Crime,” which Swift performed with openers HAIM, in all of the performances that were taped for the movie.

The only way you’ll see the fan-favorite soft jam on the big screen is if it was shot at another one of Swift’s shows without anyone noticing.

Swifties may remember that this isn’t the “Anti-Hero” singer’s first time in a feature documentary film, and it certainly isn’t the first time she’s put together a concert film for one of her tours.

Taylor Swift | Eras Tour will follow Swift’s Netflix documentary Miss Americana, which came out in 2020. The Lana Wilson-directed project largely captured the star as she was transitioning from her Reputation era to Lover while finding confidence as an activist.

Prior to that, Swift released concert films for her Reputation and 1989 tours, via Netflix and Apple Music, respectively. She also released DVDs of her first two headlining treks before that: 2010’s Journey to Fearless and 2011’s Speak Now World Tour — Live.

The Eras Tour film was created at a time when production on almost every other big screen project was halted by the SAG-AFTRA writers’ strike. Rules of the labor strike, which began in July 2023, mandate that no members are allowed to work on or promote any of their films until their demands are met by production companies — so how did Swift’s come together in that time period?

As it turns out, a source close to the Swift film confirmed to Billboard that the Eras doc obtained clearance under the SAG-AFTRA interim agreement before filming. The agreement green lights individual non-AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) productions that meet the standards sought by unions involved in the strike, including scheduled breaks, payment for fittings, meal and wardrobe allowances for principal actors and background actors, per diems, rest periods and more.

Billboard also confirmed that the Swift film is included under an assumed name on the list of approved interim agreement projects.