Greg Marcus has been in the movie business for years but he never expected to be urging moviegoers to take out their phones during a film 91裸聊视频� let alone to be crafting friendship bracelets

But there the chief executive and chair of the Marcus Corporation is in headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, stringing beads together while humming 91裸聊视频淪hake It Off.91裸聊视频�

Movie theaters are readying for an onslaught like they91裸聊视频檝e never seen before, beginning Friday when 91裸聊视频淭aylor Swift: The Eras Tour91裸聊视频� debuts. The concert film, compiled from several is expected to launch with $100 million, or possibly more. Advance ticket sales worldwide have already surpassed $100 million.

Dancing will be encouraged.

91裸聊视频淭his is different,91裸聊视频� says Marcus. 91裸聊视频淭ake your phone out. Take selfies. Dance, sing, get up, have a good time. We want to create an atmosphere.91裸聊视频�

Concert films, of course, aren91裸聊视频檛 anything new. Just last month, returned to theaters for a decades-later encore. But 91裸聊视频淭he Eras Tour91裸聊视频� heralds something new and potentially game-changing in the movie industry.

Two of the biggest stars on the planet 91裸聊视频� Swift and 91裸聊视频� are heading into cinemas in first-of-their-kind deals made directly with AMC Theaters that circumvent Hollywood studios and which, for now, leave streamers waiting on the sidelines.

But how did the once declared-for-dead multiplex become the go-to place this fall a pair of stars

When studios began diverting some of their titles to streaming platforms, movie theaters began thinking harder about how they could fill their screens 91裸聊视频� a question exacerbated this autumn by an that91裸聊视频檚 led to the

Movie theaters are increasingly not just a marquee of movie showtimes but a big-screen stage for a variety of visual media. BTS earlier this year , with higher ticket prices and limited showtimes. The Metropolitan Opera has for years done

Few acts can do what Swift and Beyonc茅 can. Their expected success is unlikely to be replicated. But 91裸聊视频淭he Eras Tour91裸聊视频� could be the start of an expansion of what, exactly, a movie theater can be. Think , only much cheaper and in most towns.

91裸聊视频淵ou could say we91裸聊视频檙e in the movie business, but really we91裸聊视频檙e in the getting-together-with-other-people business,91裸聊视频� says Marcus. 91裸聊视频淭he more we do of it, the more the customers will think about it and the more talent will go: This is something I could do.91裸聊视频�

Swift91裸聊视频檚 camp was motivated to get the film out even as her stadium tour continues internationally. The tour, which is projected by Pollstar to gross some $1.4 billion, , saw sky-high resale mark-ups and left many fans priced out.

The movie, directed by Sam Wrench, would be a way for millions more to experience . Adult tickets are being sold for $19.89,91裸聊视频� a reference to her birth year and 2014 album, a re-recording of which is due out Oct. 27. That91裸聊视频檚 higher than the average movie ticket but several thousand less than many tickets to see Swift live.

It91裸聊视频檚 arriving uncommonly fast, too, just a little over two months since the SoFi shows. Speed was one reason Swift91裸聊视频檚 father, Scott Swift, is said to have sought out a direct deal with AMC. Swift produced the film, herself, and, with 274 million followers on Instagram, didn91裸聊视频檛 need a studio to promote it.

The has only further brightened the spotlight on the movie. According to ad tracking firm iSpot, TV ads for the film ran only a few dozen times as of Oct. 6, including several spots during NFL broadcasts. (A Marvel movie, by comparison, might run several thousand TV commercials.)

Ticket sales will be split 43% with theaters and 57% shared by Swift and AMC 91裸聊视频� with the lion91裸聊视频檚 share of that going to Swift. The film will play exclusively in theaters for at least 13 weeks 91裸聊视频� longer than many Hollywood releases do now. AMC CEO Adam Aron has called the deal 91裸聊视频渁 coup for AMC91裸聊视频� on social media.

Both AMC and representatives for Swift declined to discuss the film91裸聊视频檚 release.

After a premiere in Los Angeles on Wednesday, there won91裸聊视频檛 be any advance screenings until the movie begins playing at 6 p.m. local time Friday. Most wide-release movies open with Thursday showings and Friday daytime screenings. It91裸聊视频檚 another wrinkle in a nontraditional release that91裸聊视频檚 challenging Hollywood norms.

91裸聊视频淚nnovation comes out of challenging times in this business. We91裸聊视频檙e seeing a lot of changes, some subtle, some not so subtle,91裸聊视频� says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore. 91裸聊视频淚t seems like, right now, there are no rules when it comes to being successful.91裸聊视频�

Dergarabedian believes the two concert films should help lift the North American box office to more than $9 billion in 2023, up from the $7.4 billion of last year and edging closer to the $11.4 billion of 2019.

91裸聊视频淚t really opens up the idea that other types of content can play really well in a movie theater,91裸聊视频� he says.

Some of those changes have been facilitated by the abolishment of long-held antitrust restrictions governing movie distribution. After more than 70 years of regulating divisions between exhibition and distribution, were terminated in 2020 with a two-year sunset period that ran until last year.

91裸聊视频淚nnovation had effectively been stunted,91裸聊视频� says Makan Delrahim, the former antitrust chief at the Justice Department who proposed ending the consent decrees.

Delrahim believes 91裸聊视频淭aylor Swift: The Eras Tour91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频� as a movie distributed by a theater chain, with nontraditional ticket prices 91裸聊视频� could 91裸聊视频渇uel new business models to save the exhibitors.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淭here will be more appetite to experiment different models for theatrical distribution,91裸聊视频� Delrahim says. 91裸聊视频淭he industry needs it and, frankly, so do consumers.91裸聊视频�

Meanwhile, 91裸聊视频淭aylor Swift: The Eras Tour91裸聊视频� is poised to become the biggest concert film ever in about two days of release. Not accounting for inflation, 201191裸聊视频檚 91裸聊视频淛ustin Bieber: Never Say Never91裸聊视频� holds that mark with $73.1 million across its entire run. Accounting for inflation, it will be harder for 91裸聊视频淭he Eras Tour91裸聊视频� to catch 91裸聊视频淲oodstock,91裸聊视频� which grossed $50 million in 1970, a total that translates to nearly $400 million today.

In Marcus91裸聊视频� theaters, like many other chains, there will be friendship bracelet stations. Sound systems have been modified for more of a concert feel. And while Marcus grants it will be strange to see an AMC logo before a film playing in his theaters, he doesn91裸聊视频檛 particularly mind.

91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 just happy it91裸聊视频檚 there,91裸聊视频� he says.

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