The Queens of Pop are taking the screen by storm. After Taylor Swift, it is Beyoncé’s turn to offer her admirers a recording of the show of her last tour, confirming a strong comeback of concert films.
Beyoncé’s film “Renaissance,” described as a mix of documentary and spectacle, hits theaters around the world this Thursday. The feature film offers fans of Queen B a nearly three-hour behind-the-scenes look at the star’s latest world tour, Renaissance.
“After the success of the Taylor Swift film, the release of Renaissance gives us another opportunity to see what we can do with this type of product,” says Daniel Séguin, senior vice president of national exhibition at Cineplex, the largest cinema chain in the Country.
“During the screenings of the Taylor Swift film, people danced and sang in our theaters and a unique atmosphere was created. Things might be a little different with Beyoncé, as it is a documentary with parts of her concert. But I’m still very curious to see how the public will react.
Box office expectations
Need we remember the immense success of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour? The popular pop singer’s concert film, which opened to great fanfare in mid-October, had the “Swifties” running (and dancing) in theaters and grossed nearly $250 million at the global box office (a record for this type of production), including $1.5 million in Quebec.
Box office expectations seem to be a little lower for Beyoncé’s film. According to an article published last week on the trade site Deadline Hollywood, “Renaissance” could collect nearly $20 million at the North American box office in its first weekend in theaters. Taylor Swift’s film grossed more than $92 million in its opening weekend last month.
Like the Taylor Swift film, “Renaissance” will only be shown in theaters on weekend (Thursday to Sunday) evenings. The film will be shown in 90 cinemas in the Cineplex chain in Canada, including a dozen in Quebec.
Who’s next?
In general, Daniel Séguin welcomes the return of major concert films. In addition to Taylor Swift, Metallica and BTS also produced recordings of their shows this year.
“Today’s technology makes it possible to produce concert films that have nothing to do with those we saw ten or even five years ago,” observes Daniel Séguin.
“For the Taylor Swift film, the recording was so well done that it felt like we were attending a real concert. It will be interesting to see if other major music stars want to capitalize on this trend in the coming months or years.