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May 8, 2026

At the Movies: Billie Eilish and James Cameron make concert movie magic with ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft'

By MARIA SHERMAN
AP Music Writer

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Co-directed by Eilish and James Cameron, the film captures her performance at Manchester’s Co-Op Live arena.

NEW YORK — Billie Eilish is levitating. Or so it seems. When the pop star first emerges on screen in the mouthful “Billie Eilish — Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D),” she is suspended above a cube built of LED screens, surrounded by a sold-out crowd of over 23,000 fans in the center of the U.K.'s largest arena — Manchester's Co-op Live. She launches into the midtempo “Chihiro,” a house experiment from her latest album, and the 3D magic begins. In the contemporary pop music landscape, Eilish is a rulebreaker — and so is this work.


 
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