{"id":180564,"date":"2025-10-05T17:35:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T17:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/180564\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T17:35:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T17:35:06","slug":"taylor-swift-rules-box-office-again-smashing-machine-flops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/180564\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift Rules Box Office Again, Smashing Machine Flops"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tHaving conquered the world\u2019s biggest stadiums with her sold-out concert tours, Taylor Swift<\/a> is proving again she can rule the big screen, too.<\/p>\n

\n\tHer newest theatrical effort, \u201cThe Official Release Party of a Showgirl,\u201d is dancing to the top of box office charts with $33 million over the weekend. The \u201ccinematic experience,\u201d as the project has been dubbed, collected another $13 million at the international box office for a global total of $46 million. It\u2019s a significant tally given that \u201cShowgirl\u201d was announced just over two weeks ago<\/a> and landed in theaters with minimal promotion outside of Swift\u2019s social media feeds. AMC is distributing \u201cThe Official Release Party of a Showgirl,\u201d which isn\u2019t a traditional movie, or a concert film like Swift\u2019s record-breaking \u201cThe Eras Tour,\u201d<\/a> but instead a 89-minute listening party that offers fans a look at a new music video and behind-the-scenes footage for her 12th studio album, \u201cThe Life of a Showgirl.\u201d This is Swift\u2019s second No. 1 box office debut after 2023\u2019s \u201cThe Eras Tour,\u201d which opened to a staggering $93.2 million.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNo other musical artist on the planet can do this,\u201d says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tA self-proclaimed fan of numerology, Swift put tickets on sale for $12, which is above the national average price but below the cost in major cities like New York City or Los Angeles. Audience reception has been stellar (a rare \u201cA+\u201d grade on CinemaScore exit polls), but no matter the feedback, \u201cThe Official Release Party of a Showgirl\u201d is\u00a0only slated for the weekend of Oct. 3 through 5. That means the Swift-induced box office bump will be brief.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOn behalf of AMC Theatres and the entire theatrical exhibition industry, I extend our sincerest appreciation to the iconic Taylor Swift for bringing her brilliance and magic to movie theatres this weekend,\u201d AMC\u2019s CEO Adam Aron said in a statement. \u201cHer vision to add a cinematic element to her incredible album debut was nothing less than a triumph.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tElsewhere at the box office, audiences couldn\u2019t smell what the Rock was cooking. This weekend\u2019s other newcomer, Dwayne Johnson\u2019s R-rated sports drama \u201cThe Smashing Machine<\/a>,\u201d cratered in third place with $6 million from 3,345 venues. Those ticket sales were below projections of $8 million to $15 million<\/a> and marked a career low for Johnson, below his 2010 thriller \u201cFaster\u201d ($8.5 million, not adjusted for inflation). Ignominious records aside, it\u2019s a blow to A24, which spent $50 million to produce the movie \u2014 and many millions more on promotional efforts, including stops at Venice and Toronto Film Festival. Heading out of the Lido, \u201cThe Smashing Machine\u201d was greeted with a lengthy standing ovation<\/a> and considered an Oscar contender, but it\u2019s unclear now if the disastrous commercial turnout will hurt the film\u2019s awards chances.<\/p>\n

\n\tPart of the disconnect is that \u201cThe Smashing Machine\u201d features a rare dramatic performance from Johnson, who is best known for family-friendly franchises like \u201cJumanji\u201d or \u201cFast and Furious.\u201d He plays wrestler and UFC champion Mark Kerr as he makes a career comeback after battling substance abuse. Emily Blunt plays Kerr\u2019s then-girlfriend, Dawn Staples. Though critics were kinder (a 73% on Rotten Tomatoes), audiences dismissed the film with a \u201cB-\u201d grade on CinemaScore exit polls. Benny Safdie, who rose to arthouse fame with his older brother Josh on films like \u201cUncut Gems\u201d and \u201cGood Time,\u201d directed \u201cThe Smashing Machine\u201d in his solo debut.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt are strong leads who have elevated bigger pictures. It\u2019s not happening here,\u201d Gross says. \u201cAmerican wrestling is a local phenomenon, and that will limit it abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSecond place was Leonardo DiCaprio\u2019s comedic action epic \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d with $10.3 million from 3,634 theaters, declining 53% from its debut. So far, the film has earned $41 million in North America and $101.7 million globally. On one hand, it\u2019s officially the highest-grossing film of director Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s career, overtaking 2007\u2019s Western \u201cThere Will Be Blood\u201d ($76.4 million globally). On the other, \u201cOne Battle\u201d cost above $130 million to produce and doesn\u2019t seem to have the staying power needed to justify its outsized budget. Since ticket sales are typically split 50-50 between studios and theater operators, \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d requires roughly $300 million to break even theatrically.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn limited release, the Focus Features drama \u201cAnemone,\u201d starring Daniel Day-Lewis in his first film role in eight years, was largely ignored by moviegoers. The movie earned a paltry $700,000 from 856 screens, translating to $817 per location. The acting legend\u2019s son, Ronan Day-Lewis, directed \u201cAnemone\u201d from a script they co-wrote together. Reviews have skewed negative (a 57% on Rotten Tomatoes) for the film, which follows the elder Day-Lewis as a recluse and former British soldier who has been living in isolation in the woods for two decades when his brother (Sean Bean) unexpectedly shows up.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso this weekend, Disney re-released \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water,\u201d which swam to $3.2 million from 2,140 domestic locations. The blockbuster epic added another $6.8 million overseas, bringing its weekend tally to $10 million. The studio brought director James Cameron\u2019s sequel back to screens to stoke excitement for the third entry, \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash,\u201d which opens in December. The original \u201cAvatar\u201d and its looooong-delayed sequel \u201cThe Way of Water\u201d each grossed over $2 billion globally and stand as two of the biggest movies in history. Will \u201cFire and Ash\u201d complete the trifecta? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Having conquered the world\u2019s biggest stadiums with her sold-out concert tours, Taylor Swift is proving again she can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,71030,10568,80039,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-180564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-smashing-machine","11":"tag-taylor-swift","12":"tag-taylor-swift-the-official-release-party-of-a-showgirl","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}