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Taylor Swift’s box-office power has prevailed.
The singer’s Official Release Party of a Showgirl dominated domestic ticket sales over the weekend, easily beating out Dwayne Johnson’s The Smashing Machine to take the No. 1 spot in theaters.
A three-day event timed to her newly released 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, Swift’s Official Release Party of a Showgirl earned $33 million during its run from Friday, Oct. 3 (the day of her album release), through Sunday, Oct. 5, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Johnson’s Benny Safdie-directed biographical sports drama from A24, costarring Emily Blunt, earned just $6 million, marking a career-worst for Johnson.
Including $13 million in international sales, The Official Release Party of a Showgirl made $46 million overall.
Mert Alas & Marcus Piggot
Per a press release from AMC Theatres, The Official Release Party of a Showgirl played from Friday through Sunday throughout all 540 AMC Theatres locations. Additionally, it was available at non-AMC locations in North America, including Cinemark and Regal theaters.
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The theatrical event had a runtime of 89 minutes and included not only the music video premiere for Swift’s single “The Fate of Ophelia,” but behind-the-scenes footage from the shoot, lyric videos for the additional tracks on the album and “never-before-seen personal reflections” from the singer, 35, about those new songs.
The Smashing Machine stars Johnson, 53, as mixed martial arts legend Mark Kerr, with Blunt, 42, as his now-ex-wife Dawn Staples. An official synopsis for the A24 biopic simply describes it simply as “the story of legendary mixed martial arts & UFC fighter Mark Kerr.”
Written and directed by Safdie, 39, The Smashing Machine earned a 15-minute standing ovation following its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival last month.
A24
During a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Johnson confessed to feeling nerves about filming a movie for the first time “in a very, very, very long time,” and admitted that perhaps dramatic roles had not been offered to him over the years “because I was too scared to explore this stuff.”
“You have to be willing to tap into all the stuff that you’ve gone through, and this was stuff that I had not explored on camera or otherwise,” he told the outlet.
The wrestler-turned-actor went on to say that although he himself is “not a big therapy person,” he still considers himself “an advocate for whatever it is you need.”
“I found it so scary, but also, so nourishing and freeing. I ripped it open,” Johnson added.
