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Spanish Fan Shows Off His Taylor Swift 'Sanctuary' Before Madrid Gig

Roberto Santos, 55, a Spanish superfan who is part of a select list of fans who receives exclusive gifts from the pop icon, poses in his "Taylor Swift shrine" in his home in Madrid, Spain, May 21, 2024. REUTERS/Juan Medina
Roberto Santos, 55, a Spanish superfan who is part of a select list of fans who receives exclusive gifts from the pop icon, poses in his "Taylor Swift shrine" in his home in Madrid, Spain, May 21, 2024. REUTERS/Juan Medina
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Spanish Fan Shows Off His Taylor Swift 'Sanctuary' Before Madrid Gig

Roberto Santos, 55, a Spanish superfan who is part of a select list of fans who receives exclusive gifts from the pop icon, poses in his "Taylor Swift shrine" in his home in Madrid, Spain, May 21, 2024. REUTERS/Juan Medina
Roberto Santos, 55, a Spanish superfan who is part of a select list of fans who receives exclusive gifts from the pop icon, poses in his "Taylor Swift shrine" in his home in Madrid, Spain, May 21, 2024. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Roberto Santos, 55, stands out among other "Swifties" for his decades-long devotion to American pop icon Taylor Swift and a plethora of gifts the Spaniard has received from her team in recognition of that - enough to fill up an apartment room he calls a sanctuary.
As Swift, 34, was preparing to play her Eras Tour gigs in Madrid on Wednesday and Thursday, Santos, who runs a dental prosthetics lab in Spain's capital, solemnly displayed the items, including Swift's limited-edition platinum disk award, signed photos, recordings, and sneakers bearing both their names, said Reuters.
"Sometimes I wake up at night, turn on the light and look a little, and say to myself: 'What are you doing?'... I just look, it gives me calm, and I go back to sleep," Santos said in an interview.
"For me she means everything; I've been following her since before 2011... I had the gut feeling that she was going to be big. If I had the same intuition with the lottery, I'd be rich," Santos said.
He said going to see her perform in Dublin in 2018 made him the only person to have traveled twice from Spain for a Swift show. Her management team then added Santos and his wife Inmaculada to an exclusive fan list, and sent them gifts and invitations, including an all-paid trip to Los Angeles last year, Santos said.
"If I was 18 or 20, I imagine I could go a bit crazy... but now everything feels more mature and calm," said Santos, who has Swift-themed tattoos on his arms and ankle.
He has yet to meet her in person. A planned meeting in Oslo was canceled due to the pandemic.
Santos is particularly thankful to Swift and her team for thinking about older fans, and for "the values she has transmitted" through her art.
Swift's record-breaking Eras Tour has boosted local economies. In Madrid, hotel occupancy rates have climbed to 90% on average for the concert dates.

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Entertainment

‘Sinners’ Surges Past ‘Minecraft’ to Lead Box Office

Director Ryan Coogler, left, and Michael B. Jordan pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film "Sinners" on Monday, April 14, 2025, in London. (AP)
Director Ryan Coogler, left, and Michael B. Jordan pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film "Sinners" on Monday, April 14, 2025, in London. (AP)
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‘Sinners’ Surges Past ‘Minecraft’ to Lead Box Office

Director Ryan Coogler, left, and Michael B. Jordan pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film "Sinners" on Monday, April 14, 2025, in London. (AP)
Director Ryan Coogler, left, and Michael B. Jordan pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film "Sinners" on Monday, April 14, 2025, in London. (AP)

Brand names, not filmmakers or stars, are said to rule the box office these days. But Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” led by twin Michael B. Jordans, proved a bloody exception to modern movie rules, launching with $45.6 million in ticket sales in US and Canadian theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.

“Sinners,” a Warner Bros. release that cost about $90 million to produce, was a bold gamble on originality — albeit with genre elements — and one of the most bankable American directors in Coogler. The “Creed” and “Black Panther” director wrote and produced “Sinners,” a 1932-set vampire movie about bootlegging brothers (both played by Jordan) who open a juke joint in their Mississippi hometown.

“A Minecraft Movie,” the year’s biggest Hollywood hit, followed close behind in second, collecting $41.3 million in its third week of release. That gave Warner Bros., after a handful of disappointments, an enviable one-two punch at the box office with one original, director-driven movie and one IP-based property.

“A Minecraft Movie,” which Warner Bros. co-produced with Legendary Pictures, has amassed $720.8 million worldwide in three weeks of release.

Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca, co-chairs of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, celebrated the two films’ resonance with moviegoers. The studio accounted for a remarkable 64% of the domestic box office for the Easter weekend.

“Movies have the power to transport us to worlds only seen on the big screen, and Warner Bros. Pictures remains committed to bringing singular in-theater experiences to audiences looking for bold movies, both original and those based on beloved existing properties,” Abdy and De Luca said in a statement Sunday.

But all eyes were on the performance on “Sinners,” which Warner Bros. went to extreme lengths to secure. Abdy and De Luca agreed to give Coogler not just a cut of gross ticket sales but ownership of the film after 25 years — a virtually unheard of concession.

But Coogler and Jordan, whose collaborations stretch back to “Fruitvale Station,” make up one of the industry’s most potent director-actor duos. Reviews (98% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes) were stellar for “Sinners” and audiences, too, were enthralled by its supernatural twists. The film earned an “A” CinemaScore from moviegoers.

Overseas, “Sinners” faced a more uphill battle. It collected $15.4 million in 71 international markets. Domestically, “Sinners” attracted a diverse audience: 38% Black, 35% white, 18% Hispanic and 5% Asian.

Before “Sinners,” dual roles had been rough business for Warner Bros. The studio saw flops in both “The Alto Knights” (a period gangster film featuring a doubled Robert De Niro) and “Mickey 17” (a sci-fi movie with two Robert Pattinsons).

But the strong opening for “Sinners,” which should be sustained in the coming weeks given the strong word of mouth, cements Coogler’s place as one of a handful of filmmakers whose name draws big audiences. Another would be Jordan Peele, whose “Nope” (2022) debuted similarly with $44.3 million.

Angel Studios’ “The King of Kings,” an animated tale of Jesus’ life aimed at Christian audiences, capitalized on the Easter weekend, grossing $17.2 million in its second week of release. That was nearly equal to its opening weekend ($19.1 million), and brought “The King of Kings” to a domestic total of $45.3 million.

Bleecker Street’s “The Wedding Banquet,” Andrew Ahn’s reimagining of Ang Lee’s 1993 comedy of errors, opened on 1,142 North American screens with $922,906 in ticket sales. “The Wedding Banquet,” a hit at the Sundance Film Festival, stars Lily Gladstone, Bowen Yang, Kelly Marie Tran and newcomer Han Gi-chan.