On Friday Oct. 13, singer and songwriter Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert film made its way to theaters. The film is a nearly three hours long recording of the Eras Tour shows in Los Angeles, which took place in early August.
With the film’s opening day grossing $39 million, it earns the title of highest grossing tour film in history, according to The Swift Society. Some expected the film to even gross up to $150 million on opening weekend, which is comparable to how Barbie and Oppenheimer performed, according to World of Reel.
“Taylor Swift’s fanbase is so dedicated and I’m not surprised with how much money the film earned,” sophomore Lila Pollak said. “The tickets were so hard to get that I’m sure a lot of fans are hoping to get a similar experience in the theaters,”
Excited fans hoped to recreate an experience like the Eras Tour involving homemade friendship bracelets and dressing up, some fans also wanted a more calm and theater-like environment, according to Pollak. In a recent viral TikTok video, fans are shown shouting the lyrics and lighting up the theater with their phone flashlights.
“I have seen a lot of videos of fans in the theaters screaming the songs, with some people grouping together at the front and dancing in a circle,” sophomore Elizabeth Fox said. “While the film is definitely for people to be able to sing along to, I don’t think it is necessary to stand in front of people and scream,”
The topic of concert etiquette, as well as theater etiquette, has been of notable interest lately, with various content creators pointing out rude behavior in public concert or theater settings, according to Fox.
“I feel like people have recently been very obsessed with recording themselves in public to post on the internet for views,”Fox said. “The fact that they are trying to interrupt a live concert by causing a disturbance to gain online exposure can definitely be annoying, and I’m sure artists feel that way as well,”
Concert etiquette can also be linked to the subject of obsessive fans, where many are noting that there is a fine line between being a socially acceptable fan and being a parasocial fan, according to Pollak.
“It’s often strange where I see a ton of news posts about Taylor and there are tens of images about a wedding she went to, or everyone is commenting about her and Travis Kelce,” Pollak said. “As much as I admire Taylor, it’s admittedly weird when one small aspect of her life is the topic of conversation everywhere.”
