With several shows playing nine performances (instead of the typical eight), a host of Broadway productions made box-office history for the final week of the year.
Leading the pack with a big roar was Disney's international hit The Lion King, which earned $4,316,629 over nine performances and an average paid admission of $286.61 at the Minskoff—the largest, single-week box-office take in Broadway history. The musical, now in its 27th year on Broadway, previously set that same industry record last year with a $4.315 million week. Not far behind was another international hit, Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman's Wicked, which also broke the $4 million mark, taking in $4,003,233 at the Gershwin over nine performances with an average paid admission of $231.01 (a substantial increase from an average ticket price of $164.13 the previous week).
Also scoring big was Broadway's other Disney entry, Aladdin, which broke the house record at the New Amsterdam Theatre, earning $2,979,728 over nine performances. The musical, also based on the animated film of the same name, is currently in its 10th year on Broadway.
Musicals were not the only big winners on Broadway for the week ending December 31. The Tony-winning Best Play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, in fact, set a new record for weekly ticket sales for a non-musical play with a gross of $2,718,488 at the Lyric Theatre over eight performances (with an average ticket price of $211.74). Rounding out the top five was MJ the Musical, beating the house record at the Neil Simon Theatre with a gross of $2,613,841 over nine performances at the Neil Simon.
Others in the $2 Million Club included Hamilton ($2,404,967 over eight performances at the Richard Rodgers), the revival of Sweeney Todd ($2,261,279 over seven performances at the Lunt-Fontanne), and Back to the Future ($2,109,424 over eight performances at the Winter Garden.)
Among the other record breakers: & Juliet, breaking the house record at the Stephen Sondheim with a gross of $1,784,051 over nine performances; SIX the Musical, breaking the record at the Lena Horne Theatre with $1,659,004 over nine performances; Chicago, which took in $1,452,009 at the Ambassador over nine performances, the largest weekly gross in the musical's 27-year history (Broadway's current, longest-running production also set a single performance gross record, taking in $173,415 for the December 28 evening performance); and Gutenberg! The Musical!, which set the box office record at the James Earl Jones Theatre, grossing $1,280,597 over eight performances.
Some Like It Hot, which played its final performance December 30, also had the best week of its run with a gross of $1,398,818 over eight performances. I Need That, starring Danny DeVito and his daughter Lucy, also closed December 30—it, too, had the best gross of its run with $905,467 over eight performances.
Overall, the 27 currently running Broadway productions grossed a cumulative $45,413,789, up a whopping 35.65% from the previous week. Attendance was also up 13.52% with 256,751 theatregoers attending a Broadway production with an average paid admission of $176.68 (up $28.85 from the previous week). Most shows played to capacity crowds with an average capacity of 95.83%
Take a look at the full report here.
The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):
- The Lion King ($4.3 million)
- Wicked ($4.0 million)
- Aladdin ($2.98 million)
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ($2.72 million)
- MJ The Musical ($2.61 million)
- Hamilton ($2.4 million)
- Sweeney Todd ($2.26 million)
- Back to the Future ($2.11 million)
- Merrily We Roll Along
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- & Juliet
- SIX: The Musical
- The Book of Mormon
- Spamalot
- Chicago
- Some Like It Hot
- Gutenberg! The Musical!
- A Beautiful Noise
- Hadestown
- Shucked
(20 of 27 currently running productions)
The 90s Club (shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):
- The Book of Mormon (102.02%)
- Hamilton (101.49%)
- Back to the Future (101.45%)
- Hadestown (101.18%)
- Chicago (101.09%)
- & Juliet (100.58%)
- Gutenberg! The Musical! (100.52%)
- SIX: The Musical (100.45%)
- MJ the Musical (100.37%)
- Merrily We Roll Along (100%)
- Wicked (99.97%)
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical (99.93%)
- Sweeney Todd (99.82%)
- Aladdin (99.68%)
- I Need That (99.56%)
- Shucked (99.37%)
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (98.94%)
- The Lion King (98.67%)
- Appropriate (98.15%)
- Kimberly Akimbo (96.17%)
- Some Like It Hot (96.60%)
- Spamalot (96.53%)
(22 of 27 currently running productions)
