Taylor Swift Kicks off US Eras Tour at Super Bowl Stadium

Taylor Swift arrives at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP)
Taylor Swift arrives at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP)
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Taylor Swift Kicks off US Eras Tour at Super Bowl Stadium

Taylor Swift arrives at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP)
Taylor Swift arrives at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP)

Taylor Swift opened her US concert series with a three-hour tour of her career.

Swift kicked off the first concert of the 52-date Eras Tour with a six-song set from her album “Lover” on Friday night at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where the Super Bowl was played a month ago.

“I don’t know how to address the way this is making me feel right now,” Swift, who hasn't toured since 2018, said early in the show.

She ended the concert with a seven-song set from her latest album “Midnights," closing with the song “Karma.”

In between she played clusters of songs from most of her albums — and just one, “Tim McGraw,” from her 2006 self-titled debut. In the end it took 44 songs and just over three hours for her to span her 17-year career.

Having not toured for her previous three albums, this concert series is intended to play catchup by providing the live debut of many of those songs. When Swift announced the tour in November she called it “a journey through the musical eras of my career (past and present!).”

Swift seemed to acknowledge the Ticketmaster furor that sullied the run-up to the tour when she told the crowd of more than 70,000 that she understands it took “considerable effort” for them to be there.

After another show at the same venue Saturday night, the tour moves on to Allegiant Stadium outside Las Vegas and then AT&T Stadium near Dallas.

It concludes with two Los Angeles-area shows in August.



‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Bites Off $318 Million at the Global Box Office

This image released by Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment shows Scarlett Johansson in a scene from " Jurassic World: Rebirth." (Jasin Boland/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment via AP)
This image released by Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment shows Scarlett Johansson in a scene from " Jurassic World: Rebirth." (Jasin Boland/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment via AP)
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‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Bites Off $318 Million at the Global Box Office

This image released by Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment shows Scarlett Johansson in a scene from " Jurassic World: Rebirth." (Jasin Boland/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment via AP)
This image released by Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment shows Scarlett Johansson in a scene from " Jurassic World: Rebirth." (Jasin Boland/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment via AP)

Dinosaur fatigue may be a theme in “Jurassic World Rebirth,” but moviegoing audiences don’t seem to have that reservation. The newest installment in the “Jurassic World” franchise ruled the Fourth of July holiday box office with a global, five-day launch of $318.3 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Universal Pictures release, directed by Gareth Edwards, opened on Wednesday and earned $147.3 million in its first five days in 4,308 North American theaters. An estimated $91.5 million of that comes from the traditional “three day” weekend, which includes the Friday holiday, Saturday and projected Sunday ticket sales.

Internationally, it opened in 82 markets including China, adding $171 million to the opening total. According to the studio, $41.5 million of that came from China alone, where it played on 65,000 screens, 760 of which were IMAX. It's the country's biggest MPA (Motion Picture Association) opening of the year.

“Rebirth,” starring Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey, is the fourth movie in the “Jurassic World” series and the seventh since Steven Spielberg’s original Michael Crichton adaptation stormed theaters in the summer of 1993. The new film received mixed reviews from critics, carrying a 51% on Rotten Tomatoes, and B CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences, The Associated Press reported.

Factors like the holiday weekend, inflation and post-COVID moviegoing realities make it difficult to fairly compare the “Rebirth” launch to the other films in the “Jurassic World” franchise, the first of which opened to $208 million domestically in 2015. The other two, “Fallen Kingdom” and “Dominion” opened to $148 million and $145 million respectively.

“Jurassic World Rebirth” introduced a new main cast to the series and brought back a familiar voice in “Jurassic Park” screenwriter David Koepp to guide the story about a dangerous hunt for dinosaur DNA (not for making dinosaurs this time, but for curing heart disease). It cost a reported $180 million net to produce, not including marketing and promotion costs.

The campaign was far reaching, including a global press tour, with stops everywhere from London to Seoul, integrated marketing across NBC Universal platforms and brand tie-ins with everything from Jeep and 7-11 to Johansson’s skincare line.

No major new films dared go up against the dinosaurs, who left last week’s champion, the Brad Pitt racing movie “F1,” in the dust. “F1” fell a modest 54% in its second weekend with $26.1 million, helping bring its domestic total to $109.5 million. It continues to play on IMAX screens with accounted for $7.6 million of the North American weekend ticket sales. Globally, it's nearing $300 million with a running total of $293.6 million.

Third place went to Universal's live-action “How to Train Your Dragon,” which earned $11 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its domestic total to $224 million. Disney and Pixar's “Elio” landed in fourth place with $5.7 million. Globally, “Elio” has just crossed $96 million in three weekends.