Katy Perry: Part of Me

Summary

The film features interviews with Perry and her loved ones documenting the trajectory of her life, containing various clips from her childhood and teenage years as well as her career and personal life. The film is spliced with performances from her worldwide California Dreams Tour, which had 127 concerts from February 20, 2011 to January 22, 2012. Most of the performances were recorded on November 23, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, but also included performances in Tokyo and São Paulo. Some of her friends such as Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Adele, and Jessie J make cameos in the film. The documentary includes scenes of Perry dealing with the breakdown of her marriage with English actor/comedian Russell Brand.

Cast

Principal cast

Cameos

Background and promotion

On March 7, 2012, Katy Perry announced via Twitter that she and Paramount Pictures would release a part-biopic, part-concert film entitled Katy Perry: Part of Me in mid-2012. She told MTV News that the film was the closing to the Teenage Dream era, and explained what to expect, stating, "It's closing the chapter on Teenage Dream, but it's giving you such an inside perspective..... This film, you're going to see it from my best friend/buddy perspective, you're going to see exactly what I mean and feel and think about everything."

One golden ticket to the movie premiere was placed in a random physical copy of Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection. The first trailer of the film was aired during the 2012 Kids' Choice Awards. On March 31, 2012, Katy announced via Twitter that the film would be released during the weekend of July 4. A trailer of the film was released on April 2, 2012 on iTunes Stores worldwide. Perry teamed up with Pepsi to promote the film. The partnership included co-branded television and radio spots, digital advertising and retail displays. All elements of the campaign featured Pepsi's new global tag line, "Live for Now". The campaign offered consumers the chance to win trips to attend the world premiere of the film in Los Angeles, which included a live performance by Perry. Perry held and attended premieres in Sydney, Australia and London, England, where she walked the "Pink Carpet". On July 30, 2012, there was a premiere in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with the presence of Perry.

Special 3D glasses were designed and distributed in theaters. The glasses featured a red and white "candy stripe" motif common to Perry's visual style and also featured the film's official Twitter hashtag.

Release

This film was rated PG "for some suggestive content, language, thematic elements and brief smoking" by the Motion Picture Association of America.

Critical reception

Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 76% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 87 reviews, with a rating average of 6.4 out of 10. Its critical consensus stated "Katy Perry: Part of Me succeeds on the strengths of the pop star's genuine likability, inspiring work ethic, and dazzling stage show, even if it plays somewhat like a PR puff piece at times." At the website Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received a rating average of 57, based on 24 reviews, indicating mixed to average reviews. Audiences polled by the market research firm CinemaScore gave Katy Perry: Part of Me an "A" grade on average. Neil Smith of Total Film stated, "Despite being as garish and manufactured as Perry's multi-coloured hair-don'ts, Part of Me deserves kudos for allowing an element of unpredictability to intrude upon its tween exploitation and sugary vulgarity." Elizabeth Weitzman of New York Daily News said, "Perry may be the world's most high-profile tease, but she sure knows how to show us a good time". Andrew McMurty of Filmink stated, "Ultimately, Part of Me is for fans, but it should have interest for people interested in celebrity culture".

Negative reviews included Mark Olsen of Boxoffice Magazine's claim that, "this supposedly honest behind-the-scenes look at Perry's 2011 world tour often feels more like sharp brand management". Alison Willmore of Time Out New York also gave the film a generally negative review, saying, "the 3-D performance footage is impressively lavish, though the film's unending idolization of the amiable singer will quickly exhaust all but the most devoted fans".

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $7,138,266 in 2,730 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #8 at the box office. Katy Perry: Part of Me has grossed $25,326,071 domestically and $7,400,885 internationally, totaling $32,726,956 worldwide. In the United States, it is the seventh highest-grossing documentary and the fifth highest-grossing music concert film of all time.

Blu-ray and DVD

On September 18, the DVD was released for the film, selling 112,296 copies in its first week, earning a profit of over one million dollars. Additionally, the 3D Blu-ray sold over 200,000 copies within the first 2 months of release. The movie has also been released digitally including a stream directly through Perry's Facebook page which went live on June 20, 2014.