Eras Tour’ Movie Premiere Brings Concert to the Grove

On Wednesday night, the Grove shut its doors and rolled out a massive red carpet for the world premiere of Taylor Swift‘s “Eras Tour” concert film in Los Angeles.

“I appreciate you being here because this night is a core memory for me and you’re a part of it,” Swift said introducing the highly-anticipated movie before a packed auditorium of Swifties, celebrities (and celebrity Swifties), including Beyoncé, Adam Sandler, Julia Garner, Maren Morris, Flava Flav, Karamo Brown, Hayley Kiyoko, Becca Tilley, Simu Liu, Molly Sims, Jennifer Meyer and Mariska Hargitay, as well as the Grove owner, Rick Caruso.

The open-air L.A. mall was completely closed off for the occasion, including all restaurants and shops, which left plenty of room for Swifties donning their best “Bejeweled” fits and friendship bracelets to line both sides of the red carpet and scream the lyrics to Swift’s latest hit, “Cruel Summer.” Instead of the usual Frank Sinatra standards playing through the speakers, “Fearless” was blasting in the parking garage when Variety pulled in.

Then, just before 6 p.m., the moment they’d been waiting for: Swift — dressed in a gorgeous tanzanite Oscar de la Renta gown (she’s in her “1989” era, after all), accessorized with a diamond necklace and a glamorous curly bob — strutted onto the red carpet.

In anticipation of the event, some streets around the shopping plaza were closed for much of Wednesday, with security routing attending guests into one entrance. But that didn’t stop massive crowds from forming on sidewalks and crosswalks craning to catch a glimpse of Swift. News helicopters also circled overhead for hours.

As the pop superstar posed for cameras in front of the AMC marquee with her tour dancers, fans screamed with glee. The volume only increased as Swift made her way down the carpet to pose for selfies, sign autographs and accept their friendship bracelets.

Also joining Swift for the premiere was filmmaker Sam Wrench, whose team captured Swift’s epic concert across three shows at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood in August.

The “Eras Tour” film took over 13 of AMC’s theaters where guests enjoyed complimentary candy, cocktails, sodas and popcorn, presented in a collective bucket. After the carpet, Swift addressed the theaters individually, delivering three-minute-long speeches.

“Every single person in this theater has been hand-selected and hand-picked and invited to this night because you’ve shown some sort of extra type of support for this tour, and I appreciate that more than you could possibly know,” Swift began, standing at the front of the auditorium. “I’m always looking out for people with elevated levels of passion, incredible senses of humor on the internet, and attention to detail. These things are very important to me. So thank you for everything you’ve done that just got us all in this one room.”

Swift then marveled over the experience she’s had on the road this time around, adding, “I’ve always had fun doing this. I can’t believe I get to do music as a career — that’s crazy. I’ve never had this much fun in my life as I have had on the ‘Eras Tour.’ It is far and away just the most electric experience of my life.”

The reason for that, she explained, was due in large part to her band, dancers and crew, who were seated in the various theater rooms.

“We did this show rain or shine, in sickness and in health, no matter what was going on in our lives. And we did it with a grin on our face because of what greeted us on the other side,” Swift continued. “What you guys were doing in the audience — the amount of care and preparation and passion [and] intensity that you put into coming to these shows. … You pulled us out of anything rough that might have been going on in our lives. You let us forget about it for 3.5 hours every night on that stage. So thank you so much for doing that for us.”

As the audience cheered and applauded, Swift wrapped up her remarks: “I think the fans will see — and the dancers, you’ll all see — how much you are main characters in this film. And I love you so much. I appreciate you being here because this night it is a core memory for me and you’re a part of it. And you decided you wanted to spend your evening here with us. So I really hope you have fun. I hope you love it so much.”

Then, Swift made her way to a final theater where another contingent of Variety reporters were stationed.

“Hi, so you’re stuck with me cuz I’m gonna sit with you and watch this thing,” Swift told the group. “Let’s have a blast guys. Thank you for coming!” she concluded before taking a seat alongside her backup singers, Garner and family. While the film unraveled, Swift was spotted mimicking along to the hand choreography from “Willow,” and singing along to every word — other times she would point with her finger at something going on in the background or let out a laugh during the show’s quirkier notes.

The positive vibes kept on through the entire screening, ending in a full-out dance party to the film’s closer, “Karma.”

About an hour before hitting the carpet for the L.A. premiere, Swift announced that the Eras Tour Concert film will debut a day early, with tickets going on sale by 10 a.m. on Thursday for screenings beginning at 6 p.m. that evening, due to “unprecedented demand.”

Captioning the post “premiere day,” Swift wrote: “I can’t really wrap my head around this but…. Look what you genuinely made me do: Due to unprecedented demand we’re opening up early access showings of The Eras Tour Concert Film on Thursday in America and Canada!! As in… tomorrow.”

The film, a cinematic rendering of Swift’s record-breaking, three-hour stadium tour, will open in 3,850 cinemas in the U.S. and is projected to open with at least $100 million at the domestic box office. However, the launch could be as high as $125 million, according to some estimates. Internationally, the movie is opening in 4,150 theaters in 90 countries and aiming to bring in an additional $30 million to $50 million. That would put the film at a worldwide opening of $150 million to $175 million.

“Eras Tour” has already surpassed $100 million in advance ticket sales worldwide (which includes domestic and international), according to its official distributor AMC Theatres. It took less than 24 hours for the film to break AMC’s U.S. record for the highest ticket sales revenue during a single day in the company’s 103-year history. This means it enters theaters as the highest-grossing concert film in history, surpassing the entire run of the genre’s former record holder, 2011’s “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” ($99 million).

The concert film comes after wrapping a U.S. run for the tour, though Swift has added North American dates for fall 2024. She’s currently in the middle of the trek’s international dates, with Asian and European globetrotting to come in the next year.