The AMC Swifties’ support for Taylor Swift is so strong, they crashed an entire app.
After the “Anti-Hero” singer surprised fans by announcing her Eras Tour concert was turned into a movie, fans flooded the AMC app attempting to buy tickets, which led to a site crash. According to Collider, the app shared a message noting that online reservations were temporarily unavailable due to high volume, and that that anyone looking to purchase tickets should visit their local AMC Theatre in person.
Billboard has reached out to AMC for more information. “AMC is also aware that no ticketing system in history seems to have been able to accommodate the soaring demand from Taylor Swift fans when tickets are first placed on sale. Guests wanting to be the first to buy their tickets online may experience delays, longer-than-usual ticket- purchase waiting-room times and possible outages. AMC is committed to ensuring any delays or outages are addressed as quickly as possible,” the company told The Hollywood Reporter earlier in the day.
According to a release, beginning October 13, every U.S. AMC Theatre location will run the movie at least four times per day on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sundays, with tickets for priced at $19.89 plus tax for adults and $13.13 for children and seniors plus tax (except for AMC’s branded premium large-format screens.) The film will be available in AMC theaters in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, with tickets on sale now here and here.
Swift herself also posted a trailer for the film, writing, “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. Starting Oct 13th you’ll be able to experience the concert film in theaters in North America! Tickets are on sale now at http://taylor.lnk.to/TSTheErasTourFilm…. Eras attire, friendship bracelets, singing and dancing encouraged. 1, 2, 3 LGB!!!! (iykyk).”
Anyone who couldn’t procure tickets for Taylor Swift’s record-breaking stadium tour in the U.S. may be about to have their wounded feelings assuaged, a little — and everyone who did can get primed for some instant nostalgia. A filmed rendering, “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour,” will hit movie theaters nationwide this fall, with opening day set for Friday the (of course) 13th of October.
It’s far from the kind of one- or two-night special engagement that music fans have become used to with filmed concert experiences in cinemas. AMC Theatres is promising that the film will play at every one of its U.S. locations at least four times a day on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through its initial engagement, with many of the chain’s Imax and Dolby Cinema locations locked in to ensure the singer remains larger than life on its premium screens. The film will also play on Cinemark and Regal screens in the U.S., with other theaters and chains expected to be added.
“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 posted on her social media, alongside a trailer for the film. “Starting Oct 13th you’ll be able to experience the concert film in theaters in North America! Tickets are on sale now at amctheatres.com. Eras attire, friendship bracelets, singing and dancing encouraged… 1, 2, 3 LGB!!!! (iykyk).”
Tickets are now on sale at AMCTheatres.com, the Cinemark site and Fandango. Prices are as numerically loaded as anything in Swift’s world: $19.89 for adults (plus tax), $13.13 for children and seniors, on standard screens. (Up-charges will kick in, as always, for Imax and Dolby Cinema showings.)
Are they ready for it — exhibitors, that is, for possible instant swarming from millions of Swifties? The prospect of ticketing systems breaking down is not something film exhibitors have traditionally publicly fretted about, but desperate fandoms call for desperate measures. And so AMC is saying that preventive measures have already been taken to avoid any meltdowns of the sort that made the on-sales for the actual tour a nightmare for many fans… while cautioning that it still may not be as quick or easy an experience as buying a ticket for, say, “Barbie.”
