Beyoncé has announced a new concert film based on this year’s massive tour for her 2022 album Renaissance.
“When I am performing, I am nothing but free,” the musician, 42, says in the trailer for Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé. “My goal for this tour was to create a place where everyone is free and no one is judged.”
In a review of the first night in Stockholm in May, Guardian critic Malcolm Jack described the tour as “sheer, unfettered, mildly chaotic indulgence” and said: “By rewiring dance music past in a sensory overload of truly stunning ambition and stamina, Beyoncé is writing some history of her own.” The 57-date run recently concluded in New Orleans.
The trailer teases behind the scenes footage, showing Beyoncé rehearsing with her eldest daughter, Blue Ivy, 11, who has been dancing on the tour, as well as interactions with her husband Jay-Z and their twins Rumi and Sir. Sources told Variety that the film would incorporate highlights from the world tour, documentary footage of the album’s recording and the tour’s conception – and the long-awaited music videos for the rumoured accompanying visual album.
As with Taylor Swift’s upcoming Eras tour movie, the Renaissance film will be distributed direct via the AMC Theatres cinema chain in the US, bypassing traditional distributors. Variety reported that as with Swift’s self-financed film, Beyoncé will receive in excess of 50% of box office grosses.
Beyoncé has previously released a number of concert films, most notably the Netflix documentary Homecoming, which revealed the making of her staggering 2018 Coachella headlining set. It is the latest in a trend of lucrative films by musicians documenting their own careers, from Lewis Capaldi to Billie Eilish.
The Guardian named Renaissance the No 1 album of 2022, with critic Jenessa Williams describing it as “a tribute to the influence and endurance of the Black LGBTQ+ community, made in collaboration with producers and samples whose lived experiences and historical weight bring gravity to the sound”.
