Swifties have struck again at the multiplex.
Taylor Swift‘s special Life of a Showgirl album release event towered over the competition at the domestic box office — including films featuring two of the world’s biggest stars, Dwayne Johnson and Leonardo DiCaprio — with an estimated weekend bounty of $33 million. Overseas, it earned a better-than-expected $13 million for a global haul of $46 million.
That’s a stunning number for what’s being described as a “cinematic experience” that’s playing for only three days in cinemas. In other words, it’s neither a concert pic nor a documentary, but rather a promotional event timed to the release of her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, which dropped Friday and is already setting sales records. The 89-minute big screen event is a mix of music videos, behind-the-scenes footage and a series of lyric videos for tracks on her new album. And it’s anchored by the world premiere of the music video for Showgirl single “The Fate of Ophelia,” which she directed.
Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl — which earned a coveted A+ CinemaScore, just as her history-making concert film Eras Tour did — easily came in No. 1 as The Smashing Machine, starring Johnson, bombed with audiences. The drama, marking Johnson’s first potential foray into the Oscar race, opened to an estimated $6 million from 3,345 theaters, the worst wide weekend start of his career. Heading into the weekend, tracking showed the indie pic opening $12 million to $14 million, but the R-rated film stalled after getting slapped with a B-CinemaScore and so-so exit polls. Except for swooping in and booking premium large-format screens A24 had counted on, it’s would be difficult for Johnson’s team to blame Showgirl.
Swift went to great lengths to keep the Showgirl project top secret until the 11th hour (they almost succeeded, but not quite), much to the annoyance of other distributors who don’t like last-minute surprises. She announced the Oct. 3-5 special event on Sept. 19 in a well-orchestrated social media post informing fans that advance tickets would go on sale that day at 12:12 local time for $12, in keeping with Swift’s longtime relationship with numbers (Showgirl is her 12th studio album). However, consumers can expect to pay notably more than $12 for premium large-format screenings, which contributed 28 percent of the opening gross.
In 2023, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour catapulted Swift to box office fame when it opened to a record-smashing $93.2 million domestically on its way to becoming the top-grossing concert film of all time with $261.6 million in global ticket sales. The superstar and her team financed the $15 million project, bypassing the Hollywood studio system in partnering with AMC Theatres to distribute the film. The cinema circuit is likewise releasing Showgirl in partnership with Variance Films in the U.S. and Canada, and with Piece of Magic Entertainment in other international markets.
According to THR‘s review of Showgirl, “The 89-minute cinematic experience — neither visual album nor concert film, and not quite a documentary — is strictly for the diehards. But while there’s something to be said for the communal experience of absorbing an album surrounded by dozens of like-minded fans, what’s actually being served up on screen is more filler than killer.”
Paul Thomas Anderson’s critically acclaimed awards contender One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, fell to second place in its sophomore outing as it crossed the $100 million mark globally. The Warner Bros. film declined an estimated 49 percent to $11.1 million in North America for a 10-day domestic tally of $42.8 million; overseas, where it opened in select markets ahead of its domestic debut, it added another $21.7 million for a foreign tally of $58.9 million and $101.7 million globally. The movie is being closely scrutinized because of its $135 million net production budget, which is by far the most money Anderson has even been given.
From filmmaker Benny Safdie, Smashing Machine came in third. The awards hopeful reunites Johnson with his Jungle Cruise co-star and good friend Emily Blunt, who played a key role in bringing Johnson and Safdie together. The film is based on the real-life story of Mark Kerr, a former college wrestler who battled trauma and an addiction to painkillers during the early years of the UFC. The movie is a radical departure for the actor, who is best known for anchoring big-budget action pics or broad, all-audience tentpoles.
Swift’s Showgirl isn’t hurting Smashing Machine in terms of stealing away moviegoers, but it did swoop in and book a number of premium large-format screens that Smashing Machine had wanted.
Insiders close to the Safdie’s film say prerelease tracking was overly aggressive due to Johnson’s star status, and that a $6 million start isn’t uncommon during awards season. What’s more important than a big opening weekend is sustaining momentum. While that’s certainly true, many moviegoers don’t seem to be connecting with Smashing Machine thus far, based on the worrisome B- CinemaScore (for an adult drama, that’s like receiving a C). Box office pundits note that there could be consumer confusion since Johnson’s fans aren’t used to seeing him in roles like this.
But A24 has worked magic before. Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale was neither a critical or box office hit in the U.S., yet Brendan Fraser went on to win the Oscar for best actor. And in 2019, the Safdie brothers’ Uncut Gems, starring Adam Sandler, became both an awards darling and a box office success despite receiving a C+ CinemaScore.
One difference between Smashing Machine and those two films: A24 opened The Whale and Uncut Gems in only a handful of theaters in early December before expanding the two titles nationwide over Christmas (The Whale never played in more than 1,700 or so cinemas). Opening Smashing Machine in 3,345 locations is a far more aggressive move, although sources say A24 remains confident that the film will find its stride as word of mouth grows and becomes more positive.
“The film presents a bold and deeply personal portrait of legendary MMA pioneer Mark Kerr and marks a dramatic turn from Johnson unlike anything he has done before,” A24 said in its Sunday box office note. “Matched by a powerhouse performance from the incomparable Emily Blunt, The Smashing Machine stands as a creative achievement that will resonate far beyond opening weekend.”
Another offering over the weekend was James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, which is being rereleased exclusively in 3D. Like Swift’s team, Cameron and partner 20th Century/Disney are using the box office for promotional purposes: this Christmas, Avatar: Fire and Ash opens.
Way of Water pulled in a solid $3.2 million domestically from 2,100 cinemas and another $6.8 million overseas for a global total of $10 million. In North America, where it came in seventh, it is playing in 90 percent of all Imax auditoriums, a huge boon.
IFC’s Good Boy, the new drama-dark-comedy-thriller by Corpus Christi helmer Jan Komasa, didn’t fare so well despite its provocative plotline. The film, about a young hoodlum kidnapped by a London family, opened to $1.7 million from 2,650 locations.
Among holdovers, Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie, from DreamWorks Animation/Universal, tumbled 62 percent in its second weekend to $5.2 million from 3,507 locations for a domestic tally of $21.6 million. Following in fifth place was New Line’s The Conjuring: Last Rites, which took in $4.1 million from 2,753 theaters for a domestic haul of $167.8 million, an impressive feat in the challenged horror space.
Japanese box office sensation Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle placed sixth domestically with $3.5 million as it moved up the list of the year’s top 10 grossing films to No. 6 after finishing Sunday with an estimated $633 million in worldwide ticket sales. Of that, $324.6 million comes from markets outside of Japan where Sony’s Crunchyroll is handling the manga pic.
Oct. 5, 8:03 a.m.; Updated with revised estimates.
This story was originally published Oct. 4 at 8:45 a.m.