Taylor Swift is a musical icon who has been in the spotlight for as long as most of us can remember, dominating the early 2000s and still crushing records to this day.
Her latest feat comes alongside “The Eras Tour,” a performance featuring songs from every era of Swift’s music. Recently, “The Eras Tour” transferred from a live, in-person event to the big screen in movie theaters around the world titled “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.”
But as an aspiring movie reviewer and constant cinema-goer, I do not believe her tour belongs in movie theaters.
Movie theaters have the word movie in the name because that’s exactly what you’re there to see. A movie is “a recording of moving images that tells a story and that people watch on a screen or television,” as defined by Merriam-Webster.
This film would be fine in theaters if it told a story, per the definition of a movie. While the film does feature multiple songs with their own stories across its 2 hour and 48-minute runtime, there is no overall story.
So, why is the tour even in theaters in the first place?
The main reason for the concert’s theatrical release is not known, but there is a commonly agreed upon reason around the community: accessibility.
Tickets for ‘The Eras Tour” are “between $49 and $449, with VIP packages ranging from $199 to $899,” according to Business Insider. On top of the cost, the tour is not played in the most accessible of places, such as large cities or other countries.
When you factor in tickets selling out and travel costs, the tour is not the most accessible thing to watch. Swift releasing her tour in theaters does allow for better accessibility, but there is a better option which is accessible to just about everyone: YouTube.
On YouTube, you could quickly search up “Taylor Swift Eras Tour” and find a recording of the performance to watch. Not only would this save you money compared to going to the movie theater, you could watch it quite literally wherever, whenever.
“But the experience isn’t the same!” you might claim. Here’s another solution to that. Back in 2020, COVID-19 was the big thing everyone was talking about. Multiple in-person events were canceled due to the pandemic, but the New York City band AJR found a way to give that experience still.
In a livestream concert called One Spectacular Night, AJR made a completely new virtual concert experience featuring multiple songs across all their previous albums and their upcoming album at the time, “Ok Orchestra.” The event was so well-received among fans, it aired again in 2021.
A livestreamed concert like this would still retain accessibility for countless numbers of fans across the globe, so why did she not do this instead of letting the Swifties scream in the theater along to her music, undoubtedly disrupting other movies in the process?
There is no reason not to. The only reason to release the tour in theaters is seemingly for money.
“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” already dominated in the box office, grossing $92,804,678 in its opening weekend in the US and Canada with $123,504,678 grossed worldwide, according to IMDb. Swift is already worth roughly $740 million, making about $305 million from The Eras Tour alone.
With better options for public viewing which are less disturbing for other movie-goers and Taylor already having enough money in her purse to sustain herself, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” simply does not have room in movie theaters
Luke Brewer can be reached at [email protected] or 217-581-2812.
