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Meanwhile, Dwayne &34;The Rock&34; Johnson's awards hopeful &34;The Smashing Machine&34; opened to a dismal $6 million. Taylor Swift storms the box office with

Meanwhile, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's awards hopeful "The Smashing Machine" opened to a dismal $6 million.

Taylor Swift storms the box office with unprecedented *Life of a Showgirl *album release event

Meanwhile, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's awards hopeful "The Smashing Machine" opened to a dismal $6 million.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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October 5, 2025 5:49 p.m. ET

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Taylor Swift for 'The Life of a Showgirl'. Credit:

Mert Alas & Marcus Piggot

- Taylor Swift's unusual three-day theatrical event promoting her 12th studio album, *The Life of a Showgirl*, dazzled the domestic and global box offices.

- Paul Thomas Anderson's *One Battle After Another *continued to break box office records for the director, while Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's *The Smashing Machine *failed to connect.

- Next week, the next installment in sci-fi threequel, *Tron: Ares*,* *faces Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst's *Roofman*.

The music charts aren't enough for Taylor Swift anymore. When she releases a new album, she aims to dominate the box office too — and she does.

This weekend heralded the release of the pop superstar's 12th studio album, *The Life of a Showgirl*. It also saw a three-day exclusive theatrical engagement promoting the album in a most unconventional manner release at AMC Theaters across the world. *The Official Release Party of a Showgirl *is not a concert film akin to her 2023 *Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour*; nor is it a behind-the-scenes making-of-the-album documentary like 2020's *Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions*; and neither is it like *Miss Americana*, Swift's first documentary, which in 2020 cut together years of footage captured from her personal life, telling a story about Swift's maturation as an artist and a human being.

*The Official Release Party of a Showgirl*, which already leaves theaters for good on Sunday, is something of a mix of everything: music videos, BTS footage, and lyrics videos for all 12 songs from the new album (which simultaneously released on YouTube), capped off by the world premiere of the first music video for the album's lead single, "The Fate of Ophelia," which Swift directed.

The unique theatrical experiment fully activated the global Swiftie contingent, raking in $33 million domestically and another $13 million from international markets, resulting in a $46 million global haul, per Comscore. That's nothing compared to *The Eras Tour*'s jaw-dropping three-day opening total of $93 million from domestic ticket sales alone. But then, the globe-trotting tour acted as years of promo for the fans who weren't lucky enough to catch Swift's career-spanning show live, whereas the *Life of a Showgirl *film* *was announced a mere two weeks ago.

Regina Hall in 'One Battle After Another'.

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

*The Official Release Party of a Showgirl *smoked its competition at the box office this weekend, nabbing gold at home and abroad. The weekend's big new release, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Benny Safdie's sports biopic *The Smashing Machine*, fell flat by comparison, earning only $6 million domestically. That wasn't even enough to merit a silver medal to Swift's gold; that prize instead went to Paul Thomas Anderson's radical political farce *One Battle After Another*, which continues to perform exceedingly well in its second week of release.

The 10th feature from the American master opened to a career-best $22.4 million last weekend, and this weekend raked in another $11.1 million. That makes for a domestic grand total of $42.7 million, and $101 million worldwide after a $32.8 million global week two take. That global haul after just two weeks represents more than the combined lifetime grosses of his last three films: *Licorice Pizza*, *Phantom Thread*, and *Inherent Vice*.

'One Battle After Another' scores Paul Thomas Anderson career-best box office open with $22.4 million

Who is Kitty in "The Life of a Showgirl"? Everything we know about the character in Taylor Swift's song

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Several other premieres ranked on the domestic leaderboard this weekend, including the re-release of *Avatar: The Way of Water*, which nabbed the No. 7 spot with a $3.1 million take, IFC's canine horror *Good Boy*, which took No. 9 with $2.2 million, and the Indian mythological epic *Kantara: Chapter 1*, which rounded out the domestic top 10 with $1.7 million.

*The Conjuring: Last Rites* also appears on the domestic and global charts. The ghastly conclusion to the record-setting, uber-profitable horror *Conjuring *film franchise continues to sunset over a decade of scares in brilliant fashion. The demon-hunting caper starring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as real-life paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren added another $4 million and $13.3 million to its domestic and global coffers, respectively. That brings the film's domestic total to a series high of $167 million (2013's *The Conjuring *now stands in the rear view at the second-best total of $137.4 million) and its global gross to $458.2 million.****

There are at least four notable premieres for box office prognosticators to keep their eyes on next week.

*Tron: Ares *is expected to glide to the top of the box office. *One Battle After Another*'s hot streak is already cooling down, leaving the runway clear for Jared Leto in an LED catsuit to nab the gold with this sci-fi threequel.

But there are several other releases worth keeping tabs on, including Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst's crime comedy *Roofman*, directed by *Blue Valentine *and *Place Beyond the Pines *luminary Derek Cianfrance. Indie legend Mary Bronstein's powerful, anxiety-inducing portrait of motherhood *If I Had Legs I'd Kick You*, features a lead performance from Rose Byrne that's already stirring Oscar talk. Finally, there's *Kiss of the Spider Woman*, the remake of the movie based on the musical based on the play of the same name, which sports a lead performance from Jennifer Lopez that most assuredly will feature in future awards conversations.

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Source: "AOL Movies"

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