What's Inside?
- Taylor Swift’s 'Showgirl' earns $33 million domestically and $46 million globally, proving her unmatched influence beyond music and touring.
- Dwayne Johnson’s 'The Smashing Machine' opens to just $6 million, marking his lowest career debut despite strong critical acclaim.
- AMC’s CEO praises Swift’s cinematic vision, calling her three-day theatrical event “a triumph” that redefines modern entertainment marketing and fan engagement.
Taylor Swift’s cinematic experiment, The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, has stunned the box office with a $33 million domestic debut, crushing Dwayne Johnson’s A24 drama The Smashing Machine, which opened to a career-worst $6 million. The film, tied to her 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl, proves that Swift’s cultural influence transcends music, touring, and now, even traditional Hollywood marketing.
Taylor Swift’s Cinematic Vision Redefines Box Office Rules
In a move few could have predicted, The Official Release Party of a Showgirl turned an album launch into a blockbuster moment. Timed with the release of The Life of a Showgirl, the 89-minute “cinematic experience” offered fans more than a simple listening session. It included the premiere of her new music video The Fate of Ophelia, behind-the-scenes footage, lyric videos, and what Taylor Swift called “never-before-seen personal reflections” on her creative journey.
AMC Theatres, which distributed the film, confirmed that it screened in all 540 of its locations and several non-AMC theaters across North America. The result: a $33 million domestic haul and an impressive $46 million global total when international ticket sales were included. For context, this three-day event — running only from October 3 to 5 — outperformed many traditional film releases that had weeks of studio marketing behind them (per Variety).
What makes Swift’s achievement even more remarkable is how little conventional promotion was used. There were no trailers, no TV spots — just Swift’s own social media reach. Tickets went on sale for $12 at 12:12 local time, a nod to her connection with numerology, and fans, as always, responded in droves.
AMC CEO Adam Aron praised the pop icon, saying, “On 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. Her vision to add a cinematic element to her incredible album debut was nothing less than a triumph.”
With an “A+” CinemaScore and raving audience feedback, Showgirl now joins The Eras Tour as another Swift-made phenomenon. As one industry analyst put it, “No other musical artist on the planet can do this.”
Top 5 AM Box Office Figures till Sunday
| Rank | Movie Title (Studio/Variance) | Theaters | Friday Gross | Saturday Gross | Sunday Gross | 3-Day Weekend Total | Change from Previous Weekend | Cumulative Total | Week |
| 1 | Taylor Swift…Showgirl (AMC/Variance) | 3,702 | $15.8M | $10M | $7.2M | $33M | N/A | N/A | Wk 1 |
| 2 | One Battle After Another (WB) | 3,634 (o) | $3.3M (-63%) | $4.4M | $3.3M | $11.1M | -49% | $42.7M | Wk 2 |
| 3 | The Smashing Machine (A24) | 3,345 | $2.7M | $1.8M | $1.4M | $6M | N/A | N/A | Wk 1 |
| 4 | Gabby’s Dollhouse (Uni) | 3,507 (+7) | $1.2M (-72%) | $2.3M | $1.5M | $5.2M | -66% | $21.6M | Wk 2 |
| 5 | The Conjuring: Last Rites (NL) | 2,753 (-330) | $1.1M (-40%) | $1.8M | $1M | $4M | -40% | $167.8M | Wk 5 |
(via Deadline)
Dwayne Johnson’s The Smashing Machine Stumbles Despite Critical Praise
While Swift soared, Dwayne Johnson faced one of the most disappointing openings of his career. His A24 drama The Smashing Machine — directed by Benny Safdie and co-starring Emily Blunt — brought in just $6 million domestically. The film, a biographical sports drama about MMA legend Mark Kerr, received strong reviews at the Venice Film Festival but failed to connect with audiences.
For Johnson, this was an unexpected setback. The actor, known for blockbuster hits like Jumanji and Fast & Furious, took a major risk by stepping into an emotionally raw dramatic role. “You have to be willing to tap into all the stuff that you’ve gone through, and this was stuff that I had not explored on camera or otherwise,” Johnson told Vanity Fair. He admitted the process was both “scary” and “nourishing and freeing.”
Despite Johnson’s heartfelt performance and Safdie’s direction, The Smashing Machine struggled to find its footing. Box office projections initially ranged between $12 million and $15 million, but the film fell short, partly due to limited audience interest in MMA-centered dramas and competition from Swift’s event. Even with a respectable 73% on Rotten Tomatoes, it earned a modest “B-” from CinemaScore audiences — a lukewarm reception for a film once touted as an Oscar contender.
Industry analysts suggest The Smashing Machine’s commercial stumble might reflect changing audience habits. While Swift turned her fanbase into an instant theatrical army, A24’s drama appealed to a narrower demographic. “American wrestling is a local phenomenon, and that will limit it abroad,” said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research (via Variety).
Taylor Swift now holds both the No. 1 album and No. 1 movie in the same weekend — an unprecedented feat even legends like Prince and Whitney Houston never achieved.
The Official Release Party of a Showgirl and The Smashing Machine are now showing in theaters.
