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From stage to screen: A concert film of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour heads to theaters

If you couldn't afford a Taylor Swift ticket, or want to see the show again, or the show in your city was sold out, or want to see what the hype is about, there's good news.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Concert Film is coming to AMC theaters across the U.S., Canada and Mexico starting Oct. 13, Swift announced Thursday.

"The Eras Tour has been the most meaningful, electric experience of my life so far and I'm overjoyed to tell you that it'll be coming to the big screen soon," she said on Instagram. "Eras attire, friendship bracelets, singing and dancing encouraged."

Tickets for the tour went on sale on Ticketmaster in November 2022, but the process went haywire, as the website crashed multiple times, prices fluctuated, sales were canceled and fans were left waiting for hours, only to end up empty-handed. The fiasco prompted Congress to investigate Ticketmaster's business practices.

Economists estimate her tour could generate $5 billion by its end in November 2024. The average Swift concertgoer has spent almost $1,300 to attend, including the price of a ticket, plus things like merchandise, hair and outfits and a hotel and flight for travelers, Maura Klaunig, an analyst at Camoin Associates, told NPR.

But if navigating marked-up resale prices isn't your jam, you can catch the show on the big screen for a fraction of the price. A standard ticket is $19.89 (a nod to the title of her 5th album, maybe?) and $13.13 for children and seniors. Upgraded tickets are also available for IMAX and Dolby.

Tickets have already gone on sale on the AMC and Fandango websites. The movie will have at least four showtimes Thursdays through Sundays at every AMC location.

In anticipation of the demand, AMC said it has strengthened its website and online ticket servers to handle "more than five times the largest influx of ticket-buying traffic the Company has ever experienced before." Members of AMC's Stubs A-List program won't be allowed to use their rewards or discounts for the film, and AMC is temporarily reducing the amount of online tickets sold for other movies.

Still, AMC warned that customers "may experience delays, longer-than-usual ticket-purchase waiting-room times and possible outages" and will try to fix them as soon as possible.

AMC is also partnering with other movie theaters, including Cinemark in the U.S., Cineplex in Canada and Cinepolis in Mexico to get Swift on more screens.

The film is directed by Sam Wrench, who is behind similar concert films featuring Lizzo, BTS, Mary J. Blige, Brandi Carlile, Billie Eilish, Jennifer Lopez and Pentatonix.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Ayana Archie
[Copyright 2024 NPR]