Beyoncé’s fans are furiously buzzing over the singer being betrayed in a monumental business deal.
Outrage over the missing “Renaissance” visuals was renewed following Variety’s exclusive conversation with AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron about leadership and efforts to get the entertainment company on fiscally stable ground.
Aron’s plans to further help his nearly 900 theaters bounce back from the pandemic and combat decreased ticket sales amid Hollywood studios’ decline in theatrical film releases were the tip of the iceberg. It’s his candor when discussing how two major concert films that filled seats in 2023 were profit infusions that sparked a flurry of reactions on social media.
Last year, both Beyoncé and Taylor Swift proved that millions of fans were willing to spend top dollar to attend their shows that spanned continents — the “Break My Soul” singer with her “Renaissance World Tour,” and Swift with “The Eras Tour.”
To the delight of many, both artists gave their supporters an opportunity to relive the magic of their productions, along with behind-the-scenes clips and the artists’ insights, when they brokered deals with AMC to distribute their concert films, respectively.
Neither Taylor Swift nor Beyoncé’s concert films are eligible for the Oscars under the current guidelines, Variety reports. pic.twitter.com/BJwHuPoPqa
— Pop Base (@PopBase) October 9, 2023
Aron admitted to the entertainment magazine that the company was sworn to secrecy by both camps to not derail plans for the movies’ rollouts. He respected Swift’s boundaries, but his loyalty waned for the 32-time Grammy Award winner.
Theater owners, too, feel slighted by the arrangements with Swift and Beyoncé. AMC was the only chain to know about the existence of those films in advance, so it could put tickets on sale first.
“We couldn’t blow Taylor’s secret,” said the businessman, who noted that theater owners were miffed that AMC was given first dibs at posting tickets for country-turned-pop performer. “And those theater chains who groused to you? They grossed $100 million in ticket sales. It’s not like they sold diddly,” he added.
The “Cruel Summer” vocalist’s film was released on Oct. 13, 2023, two months before “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé.”
Ok, we can compare talent now Beyoncé VS Taylor Swift (Here the numbers won’t help you) https://t.co/9E3JqoihIn pic.twitter.com/kYSVS6cahR
— 👑Supreme Queen Bey👑 (@QueenBeyoncesp) December 9, 2023
As reported by Variety, “To soothe bruised feelings, before Beyoncé’s film went on sale, AMC gave its competition a super-secret heads-up: Don’t tell anyone, but be ready to put tickets on sale.”
Aron said that the decision to tip off theaters nearly foiled the entire project. He disclosed that “at least half a dozen movie circuits leaked the news” and that “Beyoncé was seriously thinking about not doing the movie at all because the secret was blown. So, they didn’t keep their word.”
To date, the concert film is the only visual released in support of the “Renaissance” album. It brought in just over $44 million at the box office, a staggering contrast to her 34-year-old contemporary’s $276 million. The BeyHive believes it is all by design.
What happened with Kelly Rowland at Cannes and Beyoncé with what was revealed about her deal with AMC, further proves that no matter how rich, and famous you become as a black woman, it still doesn’t shield you from racism and the systems in place to keep you under! pic.twitter.com/DnI8xlejlf
— I Choose Violence (@ourhermitage) May 24, 2024
“They stay plotting on this lady,” wrote one person as Aron’s admission of revealing Beyoncé’s movie prematurely. Someone else said, “Umm it’s actually weird that he could keep #hers a secret but had to give his competitors a heads-up about the renaissance film? there’s no way he thought they wouldn’t leak something like that, he’s such a loser.”
A third post about the situation read, “Sounds like Taylor’s team heard about Bey’s film and then rushed her film to try to beat her to the punch Like a lot of us said is what happened….” And another sentiment echoed by countless others suggested, “so we are never getting the visuals after those leaks omg.”
Another X user hypothesized that the global superstar would never give the theater chain another opportunity to turn a profit off of her artistry. “I don’t expect Beyoncé to ever work with AMC theaters ever again. That was very unprofessional and absolute trash,” they wrote.
The warring fan bases have long pitted the women against each other — a fire Shannon Sharpe further fueled when he said the 42-year-old was not as influential as Swift. However, Beyoncé and Swift supported each other by attending their respective film releases.
