AMC Theatres’ handling of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé’s concert films isn’t exactly music to some fans’ ears.
The theater chain found great success when it partnered with the two Grammy winners to release Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour in October 2023 and Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé two months later. But behind the scenes, some Hollywood studios and theater owners were reportedly not happy that AMC was the only chain to know about the existence of both films in advance, allowing them to put tickets on sale first.
“We couldn’t blow Taylor’s secret, and those theater chains who groused to you? They grossed $100 million in ticket sales,” Adam Aron, who serves as the CEO of AMC Theatres, said in an interview with Variety published on May 23. “It’s not like they sold diddly.”
But after some “bruised feelings” from studios and other theater owners, Variety reported that AMC gave its competition a super-secret heads-up about Beyoncé’s film before tickets went on sale.
“At least half a dozen movie circuits leaked the news,” Aron said. “Beyoncé was seriously thinking about not doing the movie at all because the secret was blown. So, they didn’t keep their word.”
The company’s decision to seemingly share the news of Beyoncé’s concert film with its competitors while keeping Swift’s movie top secret is sparking outrage from the BeyHive.
Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood
“Beyoncé should NEVER conduct business with AMC Theatres again. The CEO of @AMCTheatres deliberately leaked information to their competition about the RENAISSANCE Film before tickets went on sale because of hurt feelings,” one fan wrote via X on May 23. “He did NOT respect Beyoncé enough to hold up his side of the business agreement and instead decided to run his mouth.”
Another user wrote, “I don’t expect Beyoncé to ever work with AMC theatres ever again. That was very unprofessional.”
Previously, the “Crazy in Love” singer thanked the movie chain for its support of the movie.
“I am so deeply thankful to AMC and every team member who worked so hard on this film,” she wrote via Instagram in December 2023. “I just can’t thank all of you enough for your support. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done because of the short turn around time. I practically slept in the edit, color, and mix sessions. The race against time continued in order to get this film out so quickly. But it was so worth all the grind.”
According to Aron, both concert films were considered a success at the box office. As a result, the CEO expects AMC will unveil “two to three” concert films a year going forward.
