LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Taylor Swift’s movie of her Eras Tour concert dominated theaters over the weekend with $95 million to $97 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales, according to estimates from distributor AMC Theatres on Sunday.
The movie, called “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour”, set the record for a concert film, easily surpassing the $29.5 million collected by “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” over its first three days in 2011.
Final weekend results will be released on Monday. If current estimates hold, Swift’s film will fall short of the most bullish projections from box office analysts, who had forecast a domestic opening of $100 million to $140 million.
Still, for theater operators such as AMC and Cineworld, the movie provided a major boost to what had looked like a lackluster autumn slate after strikes in Hollywood prompted delays to “Dune: Part Two” and other releases.
Swift said on Wednesday that she was adding extra showtimes and early screenings on Thursday to meet demand.
(Reporting by Lisa RichwineEditing by Bill Berkrot and Lisa Shumaker)
