Taylor Swift Eras Tour movie flattens Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon at the box office

‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is still one of Scorsese’s biggest openings

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour movie has bested Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon at the weekend box office.

The weekend of 20 October marked the opening weekend for Scorsese’s epic drama while Swift’s film was already in its second week.

Even after a 67 per cent drop in ticket sales following its record-breaking opening weekend of $92.8m (£75.2m),Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour still managed to take in an estimated $31m (£25.1m) in the US this weekend, according to AMC Theaters. This beats the debut weekend of the Leonardo DiCaprio-led movie, which earned $23m (£18.8m) domestically. It added $21m (£17.2m) in ticket sales overseas.

Still, Killers of the Flower Moon landed as the third-best opening for 80-year-old Scorsese, following Shutter Island ($41m) in 2010 and The Departed ($26.9m) in 2006.

Killers of the Flower Moon is a historical crime drama about the string of murders that plagued the Osage nation in the early 1920s. The film, which cost at least $200m (£164.5m) to make, is the largest production yet from Apple Studios.

The streaming platform partnered with Paramount Pictures to release Scorsese’s adaptation of David Grann’s bestselling non-fiction book in 3,628 theaters, with plans to later stream it on Apple TV+ at a later date.

Taylor Swift and Lily Gladstone in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ (Getty Images / Paramount Pictures)

Killers of the Flower Moon also reeled in more young moviegoers than originally expected. Paramount said 44 per cent of ticket buyers were under the age of 30.

The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey called it a “masterpiece” in her five-star review.

“Killers of the Flower Moon, despite the weighty presence of DiCaprio and De Niro, is ultimately framed around the perspective of the Osage Nation, who worked extensively on the production as consultants, craftsmen and actors (Gladstone herself, to clarify, is not Osage but of Blackfeet and Nimiipuu heritage),” she wrote.

“... In this quietly apocalyptic retelling of history, white America’s destruction will not end at its own borders – eventually, it will consume itself, too.”

Meanwhile, a majority of Eras Tour’s record-breaking ticket sales were due to pre-sales. Before the movie even hit cinemas, it managed to reach an astonishing box office milestone.

As well as getting people back into the cinemas – a feat achieved earlier this summer following the release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie – Swift’s film has also reignited debate about cinema etiquette.

Both Killers of the Flower Moon and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour are out in cinemas now.

Additional reporting by AP