For a long time concert tour films were seen as a cash-in. Ask a music fan for their favorite, and they’ll probably answer with something that isn’t really a concert film at all, such as Madonna’s deliciously gloves-off documentary Truth or Dare or Stop Making Sense, Jonathan Demme’s high-concept performance art classic starring Talking Heads.
But in recent years the concert film has become a bona fide cinematic event for super-fans wishing to relive the experience as well as those who draw the line at paying a month’s rent to see their favorite musician. In 2023, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour became the genre’s biggest-grossing film of all time, taking over $250m at the global box office. (Swift herself took home an estimated third of that figure thanks to an exclusive distribution deal with AMC Theaters). Beyoncé’s Renaissance film extended her album as a cultural moment, while this year Baz Luhrmann’s Epic: Elvis Presley in Concert has packed out multiplexes and a concert documentary from the K-pop boyband Stray Kids topped the global box office.
