Taylor Swift, it will come as little surprise, has two of the top-grossing concert films of all time, including her latest release on the 2025 movie schedule, Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, which slots in at #7 currently. 2023’s Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour sits on top of the heap, by miles, having earned over $180 million that year. That’s more than $100 million more than #2, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. It’s the concert film that finds itself in the fifth spot on the list that surprised me the most: Woodstock, from 1970.
Woodstock Has Earned $50 Million At The Box Office
The movie was a hit when it was released, and in a lot of ways, it was the first of its kind. Concert films really took off in the ‘70s and ‘80s, with classics like The Last Waltz and the Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense, and the success of Woodstock really made those possible. The film also documented a watershed moment in festival history, and indeed, American history.
documentary as it is a concert film.
Over the years, the festival’s impact has only grown. In 1994, there was a 25th anniversary festival that, if you’re in Gen X, you know was a huge success, at least on stage, if not on paper. The 1999 version was infamous for other reasons, as it was a complete disaster, but also helped usher in the 21st-century music festivals like Coachella and Bonnaroo by teaching promoters what not to do. It was recently included in the excellent docuseries, Trainwreck, which you can watch with a Netflix subscription.
Woodstock received a director’s cut to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the festival in 1994 and was released in theaters again, contributing to the $50 million in earnings. Who knows, given the enduring legacy of the festival and movie, maybe we’ll see another release in four years to celebrate 60 years.