Theater chain AMC will make a handsome profit from distributing Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour and from its box office grosses, which passed $232 million globally, said CEO Adam Aron. He declined to give any numbers until year end since both Swift — and Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé, which launches Dec. 1 — fall in the current fourth quarter.
But he assured Wall Streeters on a conference call after strong quarterly earnings that the company will definitely be leaning in to concert films for next year, in 2025 and beyond. “The phone has been ringing off the hook since we announced” The Eras Tour release, he said. “A significant number of the world’s best artists would like to explore doing things with AMC.”
Eras opened Oct. 13 and only plays weekends, fout so far. “There will be a week 5, a week 6, a week 7, a week 8,” said Aron.
“He doesn’t expect Renaissance will be quiet as big in theaters as Eras “but we do expect it to be significant and meaningful. And both…taken together will provide a healthy chunk of revenue this year.”
Aron thanked other exhibitors for helping make Eras a success. “It was good for AMC because we did it, but it was good for our entire industry in terms of incremental revenue. No one would have expected to see that” back when the release schedule had started to look sparser this fall as the actors’ strike led studio to delay release dates.
Aron said he’s still dreaming of putting sports on the big screen. “If you think a football game looks good on a 55-inch TV in your living room, imagine how good it would look on a 55-foot screen at an AMC theater.”
“I think you’ll see us chasing sports. Its’ been a multi-year effort to try to get the rights, but it’s something we are in active pursuit of.”
AMC earlier reported a profit of $12.3 million in the September quarter — from a loss of $227 million the year before — on sales that surged 45% to $1.4 billion. Barbie and Oppenheimer released in late July were standouts.