Taylor Swift Ends European Leg of Eras Tour with Surprise-Packed Show

Four police officers show their wrist bands that have names of Swift songs as fans of singer Taylor Swift, called Swifties, arrive at Wembley Stadium in London, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 for the first of five concerts of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.(AP)
Four police officers show their wrist bands that have names of Swift songs as fans of singer Taylor Swift, called Swifties, arrive at Wembley Stadium in London, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 for the first of five concerts of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.(AP)
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Taylor Swift Ends European Leg of Eras Tour with Surprise-Packed Show

Four police officers show their wrist bands that have names of Swift songs as fans of singer Taylor Swift, called Swifties, arrive at Wembley Stadium in London, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 for the first of five concerts of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.(AP)
Four police officers show their wrist bands that have names of Swift songs as fans of singer Taylor Swift, called Swifties, arrive at Wembley Stadium in London, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 for the first of five concerts of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.(AP)

Taylor Swift was joined by surprise guest Florence Welch for her first live performance of "Florida!!!" during the final European date of her Eras tour on Tuesday.

The pop megastar also debuted "So Long, London", a ballad that fans widely believe is about the end of her relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn, in the acoustic section of the show at Wembley Stadium.

Both tracks feature on Swift's eleventh studio album, "The Tortured Poets Department", which was released this year.

Welch, of British indie rock band Florence + the Machine, co-wrote "Florida!!!" and sang on the recorded track.

Swift drew fans from near and far for the last opportunity to see her critically acclaimed show in Europe.

The US singer-songwriter returned to London's Wembley Stadium last week for five performances following the cancellation of her shows in Vienna, when a planned attack was foiled by authorities.

Some of the 195,000 disappointed fans in Vienna rushed to buy tickets for the London dates on resale sites, where they were changing hands for up to 10 times face value.

Eras, the first tour to surpass $1 billion in revenue, showcases all 11 of Swift's studio albums in dedicated sections. Her performances and the show's staging have been praised by critics.

Fans arriving in Wembley, dressed in sequins, cowboy hats, and forearms covered in friendship bracelets ready to swap with other Swifties, faced tight security checks.

While British police have said there was nothing to indicate the events in Vienna would impact any of the shows at Wembley, there was highly visible security at the stadium.

Tay-gating, the practice of gathering outside a Swift show without a ticket, as thousands did in Munich last month, has been banned, as authorities try to reduce harder-to-control risks outside the venue.

Marie Wright, aged 48, from Limerick, Ireland, bought tickets on a resale site on Monday evening and flew to London on Tuesday with her daughter’s best friend Aoife McCarthy, aged 15. Her own daughter had already seen the show in Dublin.

"She’s going to leave Europe, so we had to come for the last night," McCarthy said.

"Her songs have real meaning and there’s a poetry to them," Wright added.

The tour returns to the United States in October and ends in Vancouver, Canada, in December.



‘Alien: Romulus’ Bites off $41.5 Million to Top Box Office Charts 

English actor Archie Renaux, US actor Cailee Spaeny, English actor Spike Fearn and Uruguayan director Fede Álvarez pose on the red carpet upon arrival to attend the UK gala event for "Alien: Romulus" at Cineworld in Leicester square, central London on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
English actor Archie Renaux, US actor Cailee Spaeny, English actor Spike Fearn and Uruguayan director Fede Álvarez pose on the red carpet upon arrival to attend the UK gala event for "Alien: Romulus" at Cineworld in Leicester square, central London on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
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‘Alien: Romulus’ Bites off $41.5 Million to Top Box Office Charts 

English actor Archie Renaux, US actor Cailee Spaeny, English actor Spike Fearn and Uruguayan director Fede Álvarez pose on the red carpet upon arrival to attend the UK gala event for "Alien: Romulus" at Cineworld in Leicester square, central London on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
English actor Archie Renaux, US actor Cailee Spaeny, English actor Spike Fearn and Uruguayan director Fede Álvarez pose on the red carpet upon arrival to attend the UK gala event for "Alien: Romulus" at Cineworld in Leicester square, central London on August 14, 2024. (AFP)

“Alien: Romulus,” the latest installment in the 45-year-old franchise, opened in first place at the North American box office. The 20th Century Studios release earned an estimated $41.5 million in its first weekend, where it was playing in 3,885 locations in the US and Canada.

Including $66.7 million from international showings in 49 markets, “Alien: Romulus” boasted a $108.2 million global debut. The Walt Disney Co., which owns 20th Century Studios, claimed the top two spots on the charts, with Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” now in its fourth weekend, taking second place with $29 million. The company has been responsible for an estimated 42% of the industry’s summer box office haul, including hits “Inside Out 2” and “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.”

August can often be slow for the movie business, or, less charitably, a dumping ground. But while 2024 has lagged overall for the movie business, a string of recent hits including “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “It Ends With Us” helped build a momentum that put this late August weekend over 30% ahead of the same weekend last year. It’s also up over 10% from August 2019.

“The summer started off pretty gloomy, but it’s winding up really strong,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “We thought we were going to coast through August, but now we’re powering through August towards a much better overall summer number than we expected for the box office.”

Fede Álvarez directed “Alien: Romulus,” set around the time of “Alien” and “Aliens,” and recruited a cast of up-and-coming 20-somethings to lead the cast including Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson and Isabela Merced. The sci-fi film leans into Álvarez’s propensity for all things horror, as he is known for “Evil Dead” and “Don’t Breathe,” and embraces the franchise’s horror roots.

Reviews have been a little mixed, but mostly positive, with an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences gave it a B+ CinemaScore.

The romantic drama “It Ends With Us” landed in third place with $24 million, down just 52% from its triumphant opening. The Sony movie starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, who also directed, has made $97.8 million to date. It cost only $25 million to produce.

The film was adapted from the bestselling Colleen Hoover novel of the same name that follows Lively as Lily Bloom, a woman at a crossroads when a past love upends her current relationship with Baldoni’s Ryle Kincaid.

Rumors of behind-the-scenes drama on the film also continues to dominate social media discourse and tabloid headlines — but “Don’t Worry Darling” also taught us that gossip and chatter don’t always translate to box office returns.

“Twisters” placed fourth in its fifth weekend with $9.8 million from 3,483 theaters. The Universal release has made over $238.4 million domestically.

Rounding out the top five was a re-release: “Coraline,” which Fathom Events put on over 1,500 screens for its 15th anniversary where it made $11.3 million in four days and $8.6 million from Friday through Sunday. The stop-motion animated film was an adaptation of a Neil Gaiman novella, written and directed by Henry Selick and marked the first-ever release for Laika. It’ll be in theaters until Aug. 22.

“Borderlands,” the video game adaptation starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart and Jamie Lee Curtis, brought in $2.4 million in its second weekend bringing its total box office earnings to $13.5 million compared to its reported $120 million budget.