"Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" movie debuted at No. 1 at the box office over the weekend, nabbing $92.8 million in domestic ticket sales, according to final estimates released by AMC (AMC) on Monday.
The concert film captured an additional $30.7 million overseas, the theater chain said, making it the best debut of all time for any concert film, in addition to the second-best domestic opening weekend for the month of October following 2019's "Joker."
Adding on to records, the film delivered $13 million globally for IMAX (IMAX), resulting in the biggest IMAX opening ever for a film by a musical artist — concert or documentary.
"It's really kind of an outside-the-box approach to moviegoing right now and something that I think we could see more of going forward," Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Box Office Pro, told Yahoo Finance Live on Monday.
Despite the solid showing, AMC and Cinemark stock (CNK) moved lower in afternoon trading on Monday, sinking about 1.5% and 3%, respectively. IMAX shares traded mostly flat.
The release of the film comes at a critical time for theaters as the nearly five-month-long writers strike caused multiple disruptions to the release schedule. Most notably, Warner Bros.' (WBD) "Dune" sequel was delayed to March 2024 after it was originally scheduled for November 2023.
Other studios have also reshuffled their respective programming slates with Hollywood actors still on the picket lines. The union, SAG-AFTRA, accused the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) of "bullying tactics" after talks between the two sides broke down over viewership bonuses and regulations surrounding AI.
The AMPTP bargains on behalf of the major studios including Warner Bros. (WBD), Disney (DIS), Netflix (NFLX), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), NBCUniversal (CMCSA), Paramount (PARA), and Sony (SONY).
"This is a weekend theater owners have been very thankful for in the wake of a few delays caused by the writers and actors strikes over recent months," Robbins said.
"Here we are talking about an almost $100 million opening weekend that was basically created out of thin air. This is not something that was on the industry's radar just as recently as the end of summer."
The film's debut serves as the third-best opening weekend so far this year, behind Mattel (MAT) and Warner Bros.' "Barbie" and Disney's "The Little Mermaid." It was also able to edge out Universal's "Oppenheimer," which delivered just over $82 million in its July debut.
Robbins said the film will help the industry achieve its $9 billion domestic box office target by the end of this year. So far, the box office has collected more than $7 billion in sales, according to Box Office Mojo.
And it's not just Taylor Swift releasing a concert film. A new film about Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour will debut in theaters this December — a sign that more concert films could be heading to the big screen.
"Taylor has certainly shown what's possible with a concert film when given a true wide release in close to 4,000 theaters, but she's also a hard act to follow," the analyst explained.
"We saw a wave of similar films hit cinemas a little over one decade ago. There's no question that they can provide exhibitors with a great source of alternative revenue during slower periods on the Hollywood release calendar," he continued.
Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.
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