The cinema industry was facing a pretty mediocre final quarter compared to the record-breaking success of Barbenheimer and the superpowered box-office earnings collected by The Super Mario Bros. Movie earlier in the year.
Box-office projections soured even more after Dune: Part II got kicked back into 2024, but like a saviour befitting of her own hubris, Queen Bey herself may have just turned the silver screen’s fortunes around.
Announced on Monday through a trailer posted on Beyoncé’s official YouTube channel, Parkwood Entertainment and AMC Entertainment are bringing her Renaissance World Tour to the big screen with the global release of RENAISSANCE: A FILM BY BEYONCÉ in December.
Per the press release published by Parkwood Entertainment, RENAISSANCE “chronicles her intention, hard work as creative and producer, and her process in mastering her craft to execute the 56-performance, 39-city, record-breaking RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR”.
Concert films as a whole have enjoyed a renaissance of late.
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is set for a global release on 13 October in what is predicted to be a US$100 million-plus premiere.
UK cinema chains Vue and Odeon have purchased the rights to screen the film, which is expected to be among the biggest money makers in the fourth quarter.
Outside of the pop world, A24 recently rereleased New York rock band Talking Heads’ classic concert film Stop Making Sense in 4K restoration.
First released in 1984, Stop Making Sense was one of that decade’s biggest concert films alongside U2’s Rattle and Hum.
More recently, Justin Bieber, One Direction, BTS and a posthumous Michael Jackson have all had their concerts projected onto the big screen.
Beleaguered cinema chains Cineworld and AMC must be thanking their lucky popstars for this resurgence in concert films, but it’s not just stopping at popular music.
More and more, cinemas are diversifying their offerings with screenings of ballet performances and classical concerts. Alongside The Eras Tour, Dutch violinist André Rieu’s White Christmas will be coming to Odeon screens in early December.
Pre-Covid, ‘event cinema’ box-office taking exceeded £71 million in the UK and Ireland, according to the Event Cinema Association.
Revenues inevitably fell during and post-Covid, but the Beyhive, Swifties and classical music junkies may be able to reverse this trend.