Walt Disney made waves when it announced that Disney+ would be the exclusive home of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. The company appears to have paid a rich sum for the privilege.
Disney will pay pop singer sensation and entrepreneur more than $75 billion to the rights of the concert film, according to Puck News, which cited unnamed sources. The report also noted that Disney outbid Netflix and Universal Pictures for the streaming rights.
The figure is a coup for Swift, one of the most popular singers in the world and who just won a Grammy for album of the year. It’s a jaw-dropping amount — equal to what Disney reportedly paid for the streaming rights to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton.
Spokesmen for Disney and Swift weren’t immediately available for comment.
Disney CEO Bob Iger made the announcement on Wednesday during the beginning of the company’s fiscal first-quarter earnings call. He noted that Disney got Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version), which comes with five new songs not previously seen.
Swift’s Eras Tour film grossed 261.6 million at the global box office, enough to be the highest performing concert film of all time. The film was a boon to the theater industry at a time when the movie lineup had thinned out amid the Hollywood strikes. As with all things Swift, the film became a cultural phenomenon and a requirement for any Swiftie — especially those that weren’t fortunate enough to get tickets to her actual concerts.
The film lasts for nearly three hours (plus the bonus songs) and was directed by Sam Wrench. It was shot over three performances at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles last summer. The tour itself has been a smash hit, becoming the highest-grossing concert tour of all time with grosses exceeding $1 billion.