Beyoncé's 'Renaissance World Tour' Heading To The Big Screen

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | October 2, 2023 |

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | October 2, 2023 |

Since Beyoncé released her Renaissance album last summer, the BeyHive has been eagerly waiting for their Queen to drop the accompanying visuals. Where were the music videos for “Break My Soul”? “Cuff It”? “America Has a Problem”? Beyoncé is the artist who brought the concept of the visual album into the modern streaming era with her 2013 masterpiece, Beyoncé. So, where were the visuals for Renaissance? WHERE WERE THE VISUALS?!

During a concert in Louisville back in July, the 42-year-old singer spotted a fan’s sign that asked that very question. And she actually took a moment to respond with, “You are the visuals, baby.” While this non-answer frustrated some fans, others speculated it was Beyoncé’s way of hinting at an upcoming concert film. Turns out, the optimists were right.

Over the weekend, Variety reported that Bey was in “final talks” with AMC to release a Renaissance concert film in theaters. Rumors swirled that she shot it in her hometown of Houston, Texas, on September 23 and 24. So, like, last week.

Late last night, right after her final Renaissance World Tour concert in Kansas City, Missouri, Queen Beyoncé made things official. She dropped the trailer for Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé. It’s set to hit the big screen on December 1. Merry Christmas, BeyHive!

Here’s the trailer, which features shots of ecstatic, weeping fans, lots of silver fashions, 11-year-old back-up dancer Blue Ivy Carter (ft. twins Rumi & Sir), Jay-Z cheering for his wife, and Beyoncé being a STAR (on and off the stage):

Here’s the official synopsis:

RENAISSANCE: A FILM BY BEYONCÉ accentuates the journey of RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR, from its inception, to the opening in Stockholm, Sweden, to the finale in Kansas City, Missouri. It is about Beyoncé’s intention, hard work, involvement in every aspect of the production, her creative mind and purpose to create her legacy, and master her craft. Received with extraordinary acclaim, Beyoncé’s RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR created a sanctuary for freedom, and shared joy, for more than 2.7 million fans.

This isn’t AMC’s only big concert film deal of 2023. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour hits AMC and Cinemark theaters on October 13. When the surprise announcement was made in late August, other films actually moved their release dates to avoid competing with Taylor. The Exorcist: Believer’s opening weekend was moved up to October 6, Meg Ryan’s new romcom What Happens Later was postponed until November, Dumb Money moved up its wide release from October 6 to September 29, and the release of Sophia Coppola’s Priscilla was moved from October 27 to November 3. Paramount Pictures and Apple Studios ditched their plans for a two-week limited run of Killers of the Flower Moon before its October 20 wide release. Cuz… why bother?

The Renaissance film will be released in the post-Thanksgiving/Black Friday weekend, typically a box office “dead zone”. Other movies hitting the big screen on December 1 include Jeff Nichols’s The Bikeriders, starring Jodie Comer and Austin Butler, and Todd Haynes’s May December, with Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore.

According to Variety’s sources, Beyoncé chose the same “unconventional” deal template that Taylor and AMC made in August; each concert film is self-financed by the artists, and Taylor and Bey will receive “well over” 50% of box office grosses. That’s gonna be a lot of dough. Add those numbers to the fortune both artists grossed on their record-breaking tours (more than half a billion dollars each), and methinks Beyoncé and Taylor have earned themselves a nice little vacation in 2024. To the superyacht!