Taylor Swift fans around the world flock to see artist’s movie celebration, In celebration of her newest album, "The Life of a Showgirl," Taylor Swift is also debuting "
Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl," an 89-minute movie celebration.
We’ve seen this film before: Taylor Swift is back atop the box office.
The singer’s “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl” opened at No. 1 at the North American box office this weekend with $33 million, according to ComScore estimates. It was an impressive draw for a traditional feature film that is small and is just one more way for fans to hear Swift’s latest album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” in a movie theater.
This means Swift has a No. 1 album and a No. 1 movie in the same weekend, something Prince didn’t even accomplish with the release of “Purple Rain” in 1984, Deadline notes.
“The Official Release Party of a Showgirl” easily beat out the weekend’s other major new release: “The Smashing Machine,” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as MMA fighter Mark Kerr.
The sports biopic has been tipped as a potential Oscar contender for Johnson but underperformed in his debut film, with just $6 million, per ComScore.
That put “The Smashing Machine” in the No. 3 position for the weekend, below “One Battle After Another,” which earned $11 million in its second weekend in theaters. The acclaimed Leonardo DiCaprio film debuted to $22 million in North American theaters after opening Sept. 26.
“The Official Release Party of a Showgirl” featured the premiere of the music video for Taylor Swift’s song “The Fate of Ophelia,” which was released on YouTube over the weekend, as well as lyric videos for the entire album, behind-the-scenes footage, and introductions from Swift explaining her intentions behind the songs.
The release party movie was announced just two weeks ahead of time, and more than a month after the album itself was unveiled. “Dancing is optional but highly encouraged,” Swift told fans.
This was Taylor Swift’s latest foray into movie theaters after the 2023 release of “Taylor Swift: The Era Tour,” a filmed version of her wildly popular concert tour of the same name.
That movie grossed a whopping $93 million domestically before grossing more than $260 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing concert film of all time. An extended version was later released on Disney+.