Movie theater audiences dance and sing during Taylor Swift-era tour concerts – The Hollywood Reporter

Fans dance to a Taylor Swift concert film at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood on Friday night.

rebecca keegan

Last spring, the parents of 13-year-old Zoe King and her sister Renna, 11, tried to get tickets to Taylor Swift’s Elas Tour in Massachusetts, but Swift fans Like about one in four people, they were out of luck. “Everything was either sold out or around $3,000,” Zoe says. So Zoe’s father, Pat, learns that the concert will be held at a movie theater and offers Friday night seats at the nearby Cinemark Theater in Hadley, Massachusetts, for his family and some of his children’s friends. Secured. “We had a hard time buying concert tickets,” says Pat. “So as soon as I got the email about the movie, I bought a ticket.” Zoe attended the screening in an outfit inspired by Swift’s work. midnight The album was dark blue and Renna had the number “1989” painted on her cheek. “It was raining glitter everywhere we went,” says Zoe. “I was wearing a shawl. And, of course, bright red lipstick.”

The King family is also in the audience helping with the driving. Taylor Swift: The Elus Tour Domestic box office receipts this weekend could hit a record $100 million. Moviegoers include fans who want to see and relive Elas’ tour live, fans who couldn’t make it to the show but want to, and the people who love them (often their parents). It’s mixed. The concert film is playing in her 3,855 theaters in North America, her 4,326 theaters internationally, and received an A+ CinemaScore from mostly female audiences and a 100% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. has received a score of.

Some of the first Friday night shows felt more like concerts than movies. The screening, which took place at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theater at 6 p.m., saw fans dancing in the aisles, singing along, waving cell phone lights and wearing costumes that paid homage to Swift’s different eras. It was.One of the fans wore a tribute to Swift evermore On one album, she held a glowing globe, and on another she wore a cardigan reminiscent of Swift. folklore album.

Cinematographer Daphne Daniels, 24, watched the film after watching a live concert at SoFi Stadium. “We had a good view there, but we didn’t get to see all the choreography,” says Daniels, who attended Friday night’s screening with two friends who are also in their 20s and in the entertainment industry. “And we’re here because of the love for Taylor. We support.”

Seven-year-old Rose and nine-year-old Ruby had never seen the concert live, but they came to the theater with friends and parents and spent most of the two-hour, 48-minute running time standing. “My favorite song was ‘Blank Space,’” Rose says. “I loved dancing,” Ruby says.

The audience also included more seasoned cineastes like M. Douglas Silverstein, the director who filmed live concerts by Green Day and Willie Nelson, and even, at the age of 14, Even Swift herself, who performed a Verizon show at her high school, was included. “I was very impressed with it [camera] ” said Silverstein, who brought her teenage niece and her friend to the theater. “The way it’s shot is very intimate. It’s like it’s staring right at you.”

AMC, the giant theater chain that also distributes the film, has issued “know before you go” guidelines. Elas tour It encouraged on-location moviegoers to wear themed costumes, friendship bracelets, and sing and dance, but asked them to “not dance in their seats or interfere with other guests’ viewing experience.” The chain also encouraged selfies, but warned that “recording concert footage on our large screens is prohibited.” AMC theaters also stocked movie-related merchandise, including Swift posters, tote bags and batons, to-go drink cups and popcorn cans.

Some screenings were quieter and many Friday shows had empty seats. The screening, which started at 2pm at the AMC Globe in Los Angeles, was one of the 11-hour screenings, but less than half of the audience was in attendance (the film originally ran until 6pm on Friday). (It wasn’t planned). No one was dancing in the aisles, but a woman in a fuzzy pink cowboy hat started moving to the music in her seat. A group of young, sober adult men shared his two rows in the front row closest to the screen so they could all sit together.

For those who attended the Swift screening, it was the first time they had been to a theater in a while. The last time Zoe King saw a movie in theaters was before the pandemic, in 2019. Frozen II. “We enjoy watching movies at home,” says her father, Pat. “So that was something special for us. There was a sense that we were doing something together, screaming and singing and clapping.”

—Madeline Castillo and Pamela McClintock contributed reporting