Taylor Swift conquers N.America box office with concert film

LOS ANGELES – After her sold-out stadium tour, pop superstar Taylor Swift filled movie theaters with screaming fans as her concert film took in an estimated $96 million in its opening weekend in North America, smashing records in the category.

“This is a sensational domestic opening,” said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

While ticket sales for “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” — which features scenes from three concerts — were below some estimates for the Friday-through-Sunday period, they were still “giant numbers” that dwarfed other concert films, Gross said.

Up to now, he noted, the biggest domestic concert films were 2011’s “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,” which finished its run with total earnings of $73 million, and 2009’s “Michael Jackson’s This Is It,” at $72.1 million.

Swift surpassed those titles in three days, making this the…