Trafalgar Releasing has announced the record-setting success for GHOST‘s “Rite Here Rite Now”. Inclusive of the screenings on June 20 through 23, the unique feature-length concert/narrative film entered the worldwide Top 10 box office at No. 9 with a total gross of $5.04 million worldwide from limited showtimes.
“Rite Here Rite Now”, which screened in over 1,800 cinemas across 49 territories, combines never-before-seen 2023 concert footage of Grammy Award-winning rock band GHOST with a narrative story that picks up plot threads from the band’s long-running “Chapters” series, directed by GHOST‘s Tobias Forge and Alex Ross Perry (“Her Smell”).
“Rite Here Rite Now” entered the Top 10 of the North America box office with a cumulative total gross of $2.65 million, making it the highest-grossing hard rock cinema event ever in North America. The film reached No. 3 at the June 20 box office with a gross of more than $1.12 million and a per-screen average of $1,492 across 755 movie theaters. On June 21, it grossed more than $238,000 across 366 movie theaters. Continuing its success, it landed at No. 7 at the June 22 box office with a gross of more than $1.03 million and a per-screen average of $1,376 across 751 movie theaters. Finally, on June 23, it grossed over $257,000 and a per-screen average of $718 across 358 movie theaters.
Regional highlights also included U.K. and Ireland with a $606,000 gross and No. 5 at the box office, Germany with a $332,000 gross and No. 3 at the box office, Mexico with a $326,000 gross and a No. 5 box office position for the weekend, and Australia with a $178,000 gross and No. 6 at the box office.
Due to demand, further screenings have been added in select markets for this and next week. Full details are available at www.ritehereritenow.com.
Forge said: “Having wanted to make a movie for most of my life, I was overwhelmed to see the interest our fans showed in the film before it was even released. Now as people seem to have not only seen it, but also seem to dig it… That really gets my motor humming. Thank you all!”
Kymberli Frueh, SVP of programming and content acquisitions at Trafalgar Releasing, said: “We’re thrilled to be part of this historic moment for GHOST and their fans across the globe. ‘Rite Here Rite Now’ proves there’s a huge appetite for concert films that deliver an unforgettable experience. It’s a testament to the power of music and the magic of seeing incredible concerts on the big screen and together with other fans.”
“Rite Here Rite Now: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack”, mixed by Rich Costey, will be released worldwide on July 26 via Loma Vista Recordings. A fitting 18-song complement to GHOST‘s debut feature film, the band’s first ever original soundtrack will be available on all formats (digital, CD, 2xLP). Pre-orders are live now here, and include the brand new studio recording “The Future Is A Foreign Land”, revealed to the world during the film’s opening night, and the live version of “Absolution” as instant-grat tracks.
Shot over the course of GHOST‘s two sold-out shows at Los Angeles’s hallowed Kia Forum, “Rite Here Rite Now” fully immerses viewers in the technicolor melodrama of the vaunted live ritual that has helped to propel Sweden’s foremost theatrical rock export to Grammy-winning, chart-topping, arena-headlining status the world over.
“Rite Here Rite Now” is, however, so much more than a concert movie. GHOST‘s debut feature film combines live performance from the two-night finale of the band’s “Re-Imperatour” U.S.A. 2023 with a narrative story that picks up plot threads from the band’s long-running “Chapters” series. The result is an utterly unique phantasmagorical blend: Flesh and bone renditions of favorites from all five of GHOST‘s albums as well as the RIAA platinum-certified “Mary On A Cross” and more are interwoven with the silver screen debuts of a few faces familiar to the band’s legions of fans — all interacting behind the scenes with GHOST‘s Papa Emeritus IV, as his future and fate lay in the hands of the Ministry.
Whether you’re a devoted disciple looking to relive treasured memories of the GHOST live spectacle or among the curious uninitiated, “Rite Here Rite Now” will put you right there: putting your phones down and living in the moment — as a shadow of uncertainty looms — completely spellbound and in the thrall of this bombastic yet intimate cinematic portrait of GHOST.
Last October, Forge confirmed that footage from the band’s September 2023 two shows at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California would be used as part of the film.
“When I first started putting it together, I was, like, ‘Oh my god, I’m going to faint because there’s so much to think about,'” Forge told Metal Hammer magazine. “Then it was, like, ‘No, no, just don’t think about it at all.'”
Both GHOST shows at the Forum were device-free experiences. Use of phones and smart watches was not permitted in the performance space. Upon arrival at the venue, devices were secured in individual Yondr pouches that were opened at the end of the event.
“I have never seen a crowd interact the way that they did since I was in a club band,” Forge said. “They were the best shows I’ve ever done with GHOST, just because I didn’t have to see those fucking mobile phones.”
At the Forum shows, GHOST performed the song “Twenties” live for the very first time live. They also played their cover of Roky Erikson‘s “If You Have Ghosts”, which was originally reimagined by GHOST for their 2013 EP “If You Have Ghost”. The band’s version of the track at the Forum featured two cellists with a piano playing, and it was performed on a separate stage from the rest of the set.