Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’ movie will start streaming (on demand) on her birthday

By Jonah Valdez Los Angeles Times

Taylor Swift will be celebrating her birthday by letting you stream her “Eras Tour” concert movie from home.

But it isn’t free — and it’s not on Netflix, either.

The film will be available to rent, on demand, starting Dec. 13, the world’s most famous Sagittarius said Monday on Instagram, set to a clip of her performing “Wildest Dreams.” The release will be an extended version that includes performances of “Wildest Dreams,” “The Archer” and “Long Live,” the 33-year-old added.

“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” is already a record-breaking phenomenon. The film has raked in more than $175 million domestically and nearly $250 million globally, making it the highest-grossing concert film in North America ever. The global title still belongs to Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” from 2009.

The film was shot in August during Swift’s sold-out six-night stand at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium, during the first leg of her Eras tour. The movie has served as an extension of the global dominance of her tour, which has set its own concert sale records, catapulting Swift to a billion-dollar net worth. But the tour’s first international leg, which wrapped this past weekend after 13 shows in Mexico City, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in Brazil, has been full of bad news.

During Swift’s Nov. 17 concert at the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium in Rio, amid an unprecedented heat wave, fan Ana Clara Benevides, a 23-year-old psychology student, fainted in the front row. Benevides was given 40 minutes of CPR on site before being taken to a hospital, where she died. The heat index — a measure of temperature and humidity — was clocked in the city that day at 137 degrees. About 1,000 others reportedly passed out during the show.

“I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this,” Swift had shared in a handwritten Instagram Story note. The death prompted her to postpone one of her Rio shows. “There’s very little information I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young.”

The concert’s organizer, Time for Fun, apologized for the incident last week and said it “could have taken alternative measures” to address the intense heat experienced by fans, Reuters reported. Brazilian authorities have launched an investigation into the company.

Fans have criticized both Time for Fun and Swift for allegedly not doing enough to support the Benevides family. One relative told the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo that Swift’s team didn’t immediately reach out to the family after Benevides’ death. Some fans had started a fundraiser to help the family pay for the transfer of Benevides’ body back to her home in Mato Grosso do Sul, about an 18-hour drive from Rio, Folha de S. Paulo reported. The family has said the concert organizers did not assist in the effort.

However, the Washington Post reported this week that Swift has since donated to Benevides’ parents. Swift also met with Benevides’ family during her final show in São Paulo on Sunday, posing with them, as relatives wore white T-shirts bearing Ana’s face. Fan footage from the concert showed family members watching the concert from a VIP tent.

Swift is done touring for the year. Her next show is scheduled for Feb. 7 at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.