Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’ Premiere: Superstar Debuts Concert Film in Los Angeles With Support of Family, Destiny’s Child

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Beyoncé brought Renaissance to the big screen on Saturday night, premiering her new concert film at a star-studded event in Beverly Hills.

The premiere, which took place at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater and included a dress code of “cozy opulence,” featured a chrome carpet followed by a screening of the movie. Guests were invited to take photos on the glitzy step-and-repeat — which featured Renaissance film artwork — and participate in several other photo ops, including posing with Beyoncé’s signature silver horse.

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Destiny’s Child members Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett, along with Janelle Monáe, Issa Rae, Lizzo, Halle and Chloe Bailey, Lupita Nyong’o, Tyler Perry, Niecy Nash-Betts, Gabrielle Union, Ava DuVernay, Lena Waithe, Kris Jenner, Robin Thede, Jeremy Pope, Laverne Cox, Marsai Martin, Coco Jones, Beyoncé dancers Les Twins and her parents, Tina and Mathew Knowles, were among the stars who walked the carpet. Following the arrivals, attendees were brought inside the theater, where phones were locked up.

Beyoncé herself did not formally walk the carpet, but snuck in and out of the screening with her family once the lights went out. Inside the event, the starry group of guests mingled before the movie started, but once it began, stayed in their seats and left the dancing for the screen. Attendees were also given Renaissance-branded popcorn tins and soda cups, as well as a sample of the star’s new perfume.

Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé follows the star embarking on the Renaissance World Tour, her highest-grossing tour to date, and supporting the Renaissance album that helped her become the most decorated artist in the history of the Grammy Awards. It features behind-the-scenes footage as well as Beyoncé’s onstage performances, documenting her from the tour opening in Stockholm, Sweden, to the finale in Kansas City, Missouri, and is produced by the singer’s Parkwood Entertainment.

Ava DuVernay attended the premiere and posted a lengthy statement on her Instagram Story, praising Beyoncé’s work as a director, calling her “phenomenal.”

“My favorite part was a section that made me so emotional I felt as if she was speaking for me,” DuVernay wrote. “She talks candidly about having to fight to be heard as a Black woman leader working at a high level of difficulty. Having to endure being second guessed often and gaslit constantly. We actually see moments of this happening to her on camera. People directly doubting, shortchanging, gaslighting her. I haven’t seen that described in a film before. Something that I’ve experienced far too often, unfolding on the big screen, in detail, as proof, as evidence that this is real and not in our heads.”

On Sunday, Beyoncé’s longtime publicist Yvette Noel-Schure, who has been with the superstar since 1997, posted photos of her client on the chrome carpet during the premiere. “There is so much I want to say about RENAISSANCE: A Film by Beyoncé, after the Los Angeles premiere, but nothing could top what @ava has said,” she wrote. “You are about to explore the most creative mind on Mother Earth. And she looks Foine. Foine. Foine.”

The Los Angeles premiere will be followed by a world premiere event in London on Thursday, before the film debuts in theaters on Friday. The project is being distributed directly through AMC Theatres, much like Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour concert film that hit theaters in October. Swift also had a Los Angeles premiere for the movie — which became the first concert film in history to pass $100 million at the domestic box office — where Beyoncé made a special appearance.

Beyoncé is known for her concert films, including Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé, which debuted on Netflix in 2019 and earned six Emmy nominations. The film followed her headlining slot at the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which was praised for being one of the most iconic musical performances of all time.

Renaissance tickets are currently on sale internationally.

Anaja Smith and Christy Piña contributed to this report.

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