Taylor Swift's new Eras tour film is the latest lesson in 'Swift-onomics'

If you weren't able to secure tickets to see Taylor Swift in concert in 2024 in Toronto, fear not her Eras tour is coming to Canadian theatres.

On Thursday, Cineplex confirmed the concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour will play in more than 150 Cineplex theatres around the country starting on Oct. 13. The film will play Thursdays to Sundays.

"The Eras Tour has been the most meaningful, electric experience of my life so far, and I'm overjoyed to tell you that it'll be coming to the big screen soon," Swift said on her social media Thursday morning. "Eras attire, friendship bracelets, singing and dancing encouraged 1, 2, 3 LGB!!!! (iykyk)."

And with dozens of shows spanning continents still to go, the Eras World Tour is on pace to become the highest grossing tour of all time.

One estimate from research company QuestionPro says her tour could generate $4.6 billion for the U.S. economy alone.

The Taylor Swift effect

Swift's two shows in Colorado this summer led to a $186.9-million boost to the state's GDP for the year, a report by the Common Sense Institute found.

A similar boost was reported in Philadelphia after Swift performed three shows there in May.

"May was the strongest month for hotel revenue in Philadelphia since the onset of the pandemic, in large part due to an influx of guests for the Taylor Swift concerts in the city," the report read.

It's a phenomenon some people have playfully coined "Swift-onomics."

And experts predict the trend will continue during her Toronto shows.Ticket sales alone for those shows are estimated to reach $120 million, according to Daniel Tsai, a business professor at TMU.

And it's not just the concerts that are generating money.

"These are people who are coming from all across Canada,and so that means you're going to have people here who are ready to spend," said Tsai.

"You're bringing your family and you're going to go out, have meals and really spend big money to enjoy the moment."

So how much money is "big money"?

"Probably in the range of $600 to maybe even $800 million Canadian being generated," hesaid.

"Your spend in the stadium is one thing, but what you do outside of that will be even greater because you have to consider that hotels, for instance, have doubled ... what they're asking for in some cases," he added.

And while concert films movies attached to an artist's tour aren't exactly new, it's something that's having a bit of a moment right now,according toSydney Urbanek, a culture critic who writes the pop star-centric newsletter Mononym Mythology.

Earlier this month, Metallica's M72 World Tour burst onto the big screen at Canadian cinemas as part of two live broadcasts from Arlington, Texas.

Experiencing concerts through film

"Pop music has a huge history of being in theatres, whether you're talking about A Hard Day's Night and all The Beatles films in the '60s or, you know, Purple Rain in '84," said Urbanek.

The resurgence of films centered around concerts can be traced back to Canadian pop star Justin Bieber's Never Say Never,which premiered in 2011, she said.

The movie followed Bieber during the 10 days leading up to his performance at Madison Square Garden.

Since then, we've seen stars throughout the 2010s like Katy Perry, One Direction and even Celine Dion,try their hand at the concert movie.

But as streaming sites became more popular, the trend of concert films being released in theatresslowed.

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Post-pandemic, more musicians are scheduling concert tours with multiple nights at one venue instead of a wide-reaching tour. Some say the approach is easier for the artist and can save costs, but its not the same as meeting fans where they live.

Urbanek points to examples like Beyonc's Homecoming on Netflix, Kendrick Lamar's The Big Steppers Touron Amazon Prime andeven Taylor Swift's earlierconcert film from herReputation tour, which appeared on Netflix.

But now, concert films releasing in theatres appear to be making a comeback, said Urbanek.

"It's like we're getting back in the direction of another one of those waves," she added.

The unique thing about the Eras tour movie, says Urbanek, is its timing.The movie is set to release on Oct.13. Setting aside the fact the 13 is famously Swift's favourite number, Urbanek noted another interesting aspect at play.

"That's more than a year before the tour will end. So Canadians will get to see this concert film a whole year before she brings the show to Canada," she said.

"It might turn out to mean that the show is about to be tweaked."

These mysteries are all part of what experts say has become a winning marketing strategy for Swift.

Marketing 'genius'

From hidden meanings behind lyrics, to anagrams, to cryptic social media posts, Swift has always kept her fans guessing about what's coming next.

One 2021 post from Swift's Instagram, for example, teased song titles from "the vault" new tracks onre-released Fearless (Taylor's Version)album.

"She's always been very good at doing Easter eggs ... doing things that feel like they're really made for the fans," said Urbanek.

"She's a genius at social media marketing," Tsai told CBC News.

And this combination tour and film is no different.

"She's talked about how she wants them [fans] to wear Erastour attire, friendship bracelets," said Urbanek."So there's definitely this feeling that she's... trying to replicate the experience of the show with this film."

The pop megastar will be in Toronto for six concerts over a 10-day period at the Rogers Centre in 2024.

"It's like our Super Bowl,it's our Olympics all rolled in one, all centred around Taylor Swift," added Tsai.