Inside Movie-Theater Hero Taylor Swift’s Huge Night at the VMAs

Tony Maglio
·3 min read
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A month before Taylor Swift takes over movie-theater screens, Taylor Swift took over the MTV Video Music Awards at Newark, New Jersey’s Prudential Center.

On Tuesday night, Swift won a whopping nine of the 11 awards for which she was nominated, tying the record for most wins in an evening, and becoming the first female artist to reach that tally. She also extended some of her own historical VMAs records, including the most all-time Video of the Year wins (now four). Swift now owns the second-most Moon Persons (fka Moonmen) ever, 23, behind only Beyoncé.

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IndieWire was also in the house last night, though perhaps in a less-exclusive section than Swift. Trophies aside, and with all due respect to fellow winner Selena Gomez, Swift was first among her celebrity equals. Strategically, she was seated literal seconds before VMAs host Nicki Minaj opened the show, generating a rapturous response — especially the most enthusiastic fans on the floor.

Throughout the evening, Swift interacted with the standing-room-only fans and fellow artists seated stage left in her (very) VIP section. Even at commercial breaks, she was into it — especially that NSYNC reunion and Shakira’s iconic, all-stages-spanning Video Vanguard performance. The show also included a buzzy performance from “Vampire” singer Olivia Rodrigo, but we’d like a word with Diddy about having his son, King Combs, perform Mase’s part of “Mo Money, Mo Problems” during Puff’s Global Icon Award set.

Still, it was Swift’s night, and movie-theater chain Cinemark cine-marked the occasion this morning by announcing that Swifties “can now reserve an entire auditorium for the ultimate in-theater experience” of the “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” concert film at select locations.

All it will cost you and your (up to) 39 best friends is $800 — which means no bulk discounts here. At $20 per person if you max out the auditorium, that’s 11 cents more per person than 20 individual tickets priced at $19.89 each. If your private watch party includes children, they would ordinarily get into the “Eras” movie for just $13.13 apiece.

“We are excited to offer fans the ultimate ‘Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour’ concert film VIP experience in their own private Cinemark auditorium,” Wanda Gierhart Fearing, Cinemark’s chief marketing and content officer, said in Wednesday’s press release. “We are wonderstruck by this event’s sensational ticket sales and are thrilled to add a new era to our fan-favorite Private Watch Parties with our Private Swiftie Parties. Our larger-than-life screens and captivating surround sound deliver a most enchanting environment to sing and dance along with friends and family to the concert of the decade.”

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - SEPTEMBER 12: King Combs and Diddy perform onstage during the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards at Prudential Center on September 12, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for MTV)
King Combs and Diddy perform onstage during the 2023 MTV Video Music AwardsGetty Images for MTV

As IndieWire previously reported, not everyone in the movie business is as stoked about Swift’s concert film as is Giehart Fearing. What is already a box-office bonanza has displaced other releases; it also took studios and exhibitors by surprise, infuriating more than a few.

Swift’s “The Eras Tour” concert film debuts Friday, October 13.

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