Taylor Swift Has Smashed It Again: 'The Eras Tour' Film Tops Michael Jackson's 'This Is It' at the Box Office

Taylor Swift marches into 2024 with added accolades to her resume.

The Eras Tour film, released last October, has now earned more than $261.6 million across the globe, surpassing Michael Jackson's 2009 This Is It at $261.2 million. Swift's tally was increased by its opening on December 31 in China with a total of $8.7 million in ticket sales.

The opening weekend numbers had already placed it on the fast track, with a global opening weekend of $123.5 million, record-breaking in itself by beating 2011's Justin Beiber concert film Never Say Never opener at $73 million.

And while Swift didn't win in the inaugural 2024 Golden Globe Cinematic and Box Office Achievement category on Sunday night — that honor went to Barbie — the ascension and move past Jackson illustrates the force of the Swift fandom in purchase power and influence at the box office.

2009 was set to be a watershed year for the King of Pop. Jackson had announced a return to the stage for a series of concerts at London's O2 Arena in March after a 12-year absence from live performing. Scheduled for only 10 shows, it grew to 50 due to the high demand for tickets. With those circumstances, the shows would be starting in July and ending in March 2010. He began in earnest with dance and dress rehearsals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in preparation, while being filmed for the planned concert movie that would eventually come sometime down the road.

However, Jackson's death on June 25 radically altered the direction of that film. This Is It was released in October 2009, as a tribute to his work, showcasing not only the intense rehearsals but additional behind-the-scenes footage including dancer auditions and costume design. Despite numerous attempts by some members of the Jackson family to stop the film and an admittance from director Danny Ortega that none of the footage was scheduled to be shown, This Is It went on to create box office concert film history.

Directed by Sam Wrench, Swift's The Eras Tour was a blow-out presentation of three sold-out shows at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. While her 2020 Miss Americana flick was closer in feel to Jackson's doc, this time around it was all performance. And to further the unique collaborations Swift can claim, she struck up an exclusive distribution arrangement with AMC Theaters after negotiations with major studios fell through, allowing her to pocket 57% of the movie's revenue as a producer, local theaters keeping the remaining revenue and AMC took a small distribution fee. Netflix took over in December for their streaming service presenting an extended version, adding the songs "Wildest Dreams," "The Archer" and "Long Live," bringing the run time to a fulfilling three-hour conclusion.

Despite the Golden Globe loss, Swift is not done yet with The Eras Tour. She'll rev up the engines for the next leg starting in Japan on Feb. 7 with a four-night run at the Tokyo Dome and move on with her worldwide dominance, ending in Vancouver, BC this December.