Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour broke box office records last weekend, and left-wing Hollywood didn’t make a dime. Not one red cent. Nothing. Nil. Nada.
Ha ha.
Swift Inc. knew it had a hot property on its hands with this concert film, and rather than work through a Hollywood studio to distribute this hot property, Swift Inc. made a deal directly with theater chains like AMC. The result was astonishing. Eras Tour opened like a Marvel movie — well, like Marvel movies used to open before Marvel went woketard: $93 million domestic, $124 million worldwide. That is the second-best October debut in history. After three days, Swift Inc. already captured the title of the highest-grossing concert film in history.
Eras Tour was and is, by any measurement, a smashing success, and Hollywood was shut out completely.
Did I mention haha?
After the theaters took their cut, Swift Inc. got all the money. Hollywood got zippo. Had Swift Inc. gone through a studio for distribution — which is how things are supposed to be done —the studio would have eaten up anywhere from 10 to 25 percent of whatever was left over after paying theaters as a distribution fee.
The message this success sends is obvious. Why not go the Swift Inc. route if you have a no-brainer box office hit? Why not produce it yourself and cut a deal with theaters to distribute it? That way, the producer keeps all the money.
Beyoncé Inc. has already jumped in. Her concert film, Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, hits theaters on December 1 and also froze out the studios. Beyoncé Inc. went right to AMC.
Producers choosing to work directly with theaters is nothing new. This process is called “four-walling.” But until now, four-walling was a last resort for independent films after the studios all said no to a distribution deal.
Creators and producers are now thinking the exact opposite. They are now looking at what Swift Inc. just pulled off and wondering why they can’t do the same. Barbara Broccoli owns James Bond outright. Why pay Sony all that money when she can cut a deal with AMC or Regal or both? Post-Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan has been producing blockbusters unattached to studio-owned properties. What’s to stop him from going directly to exhibitors?
If you want to grasp just how much Swift Inc.’s weekend success terrified Hollywood, the studio propagandists at the far-left Hollywood Reporter quickly produced this 1,500-word propaganda piece to explain how Swift Inc. broke box office records but still left money on the table … because studios are awesome and everyone should do business with studios because studios advertise at the Hollywood Reporter.
Swift Inc. broke records but … left money on the table. Yeah. Right. Whatever.
Die, Hollywood, die.
And that goes for the Hollywood Reporter, as well.
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