Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 9/23/18

[Rob]

Click below to access all the Broadway grosses from all the shows for the week ending 9/23/2018 in BroadwayWorld's grosses section.

Also, you will find information on each show's historical grosses, cumulative grosses and other statistics on how each show stacked up this week and in the past.

Click Here to Visit the Broadway Grosses...

Up for the week by attendance was: THE NAP (15.0%), SCHOOL OF ROCK (11.5%), BERNHARDT/HAMLET (9.4%), MEAN GIRLS (2.5%), FROZEN (2.3%), ALADDIN (2.1%), THE BOOK OF MORMON (0.5%), HEAD OVER HEELS (0.4%), COME FROM AWAY (0.3%), THE LION KING (0.3%), PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL (0.2%),

Down for the week by attendance was: WICKED (-18.7%), SUMMER (-18.2%), ANASTASIA (-17.9%), WAITRESS (-14.4%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-10.1%), KINKY BOOTS (-9.7%), BEAUTIFUL (-8.0%), ONCE ON THIS ISLAND (-5.2%), CHICAGO (-3.1%), THE BAND'S VISIT (-2.2%), MY FAIR LADY (-1.5%), DEAR EVAN HANSEN (-0.6%), THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG (-0.3%),

Click Here to Visit the BroadwayWorld Grosses...

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Good numbers for Chicago.  Other shows...not so much.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Truly a horrible week for the kid/family-oriented shows.

Also, OOTI went below $400k for the first time. Bad sign.

[Bwayfan292]

Why such a attendance drop for Wicked? Did school start this week?

Also Waitress has to have a big name after Nicolette, I dont think they can afford another unkown jenna. I would be shocked if they didnt announce a January closing.

[quizking101]

Part of me wants to think most of the capacity drops are because last week had the Broadway Week 2-For-1 sales that put extra butts in the seats...

[Scarlet Leigh]

How is Head Over Heels still holding on at this point? I am puzzled. Not only are their numbers a mess but the amount they must be investing in marketing has to be putting them even more in the red. And I've seen NEW marketing designs popping up for them this week all over the net. Who do they have producing this that is just bleeding money week after week?

[msmp]

What caused Harry Potter to shed 25% of its gross? First time I've seen that happen.

[VotePeron]

Once On This Island would be smart to announce a New Years closing, and get the last minute business coming in now. 

[MayAudraBlessYou2]

Harry Potters dip is likely due to an abundance of dynamically priced premium seats, because even with the "loss" they are still over 100% gross potential. 

As for Head Over Heels, I remember someone posted in a different thread that an investor dumped a bunch of money in to keep it afloat. Does anyone remember which thread that was in? That would make sense. I actually enjoyed the show quite a bit. Its a creative way to do a jukebox musical, entertaining, and great to see an unabashedly queer musical on broadway. But its a challenge to market. I dont think new ads will help them at this point. What the show needed was a spokesperson, who could make the press circuit, describing the show in interviews on morning shows etc. But they havent really gone that route, (esp with the most famous person involved, Paltrow, being mostly MIA) and its a bit too complex of an idea to get across in a standard subway ad or website banner.

[EJ24642]

Summer has had one of its lowest weeks yet. How much longer can it last around 50% of its potential?

[Call_me_jorge]

Wicked might want to get started on that film adaptation sooner rather than later. It might help boost sales for the broadway show.

What’s the gain in keeping head over heels open? I really want to know. Like is it just staying open for sentimental reasons? Do the producers have some tax incentive for losing all their money?

[RoadGypsy2010]

quizking101 said: "Part of me wants to think most of the capacity drops are because last week had the Broadway Week 2-For-1 sales that put extra butts in the seats..."

That would seem to be true for Harry Potter - which saw their gross drop by $450K but their capacity remain at 100%. But for Wicked, there was a 20% drop in attendance but only a $150K drop in Gross. If the 2-for-1 were putting butts in seats at all theatres, then the Wicked capacity would be up near 100% like it was last week.. Wasn't there a holiday last week as well? It was a very odd week for the grosses, and I'd expect nothing less from September. 

[Bwayfan292]

If Head over Heels, had some sort of stunt casting, but had actual stunt casting. No offense to peppermint but her involvment in the show has done nothing to boost sales. This could hold out a little longer.

[EJ24642]

BroadwayConcierge said: "Truly a horrible week for the kid/family-oriented shows.

Also,OOTI went below $400k for the first time. Bad sign."

I don't think OOTI is going to last to the new year...

[dramamama611]

Bwayfan292 said: "If Head over Heels, had some sort of stunt casting, but had actual stunt casting. No offense to peppermint but her involvment in the show has done nothing to boost sales. This could hold out a little longer. "

Who  knows?  Maybe it would be even worse without her?

[bdn223]

RoadGypsy2010 said: "quizking101 said: "Part of me wants to think most of the capacity drops are because last week had the Broadway Week 2-For-1 sales that put extra butts in the seats..."

That would seem to be true for Harry Potter - which sawtheir gross drop by $450K but their capacity remain at 100%. But for Wicked, there was a 20% drop in attendance but only a $150K drop in Gross. If the 2-for-1 were putting butts in seats at all theatres, then the Wicked capacity would be up near 100% like it was last week.. Wasn't there a holiday last week as well? It was a very odd week for the grosses, and I'd expect nothing less from September."

 

Harry Potter donated 1,500 tickets for Sundays Performances to JK Rowling's charity Lumos. I am guessing it was 750 to each performance, which explains the drop in gross.

 

[Sauja]

BroadwayConcierge said: "Truly a horrible week for the kid/family-oriented shows."

 

 

Aladdin, The Lion King, Mean Girls, and Frozen were all up in grosses and attendance.

 

That said, unless I'm missing something, this was the lowest attendance at Wicked has been other than the week of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. (I'm not even remotely suggesting it's in trouble)

[OKBroadwayFan]

It appears that this is the lowest gross for Wicked in 2018.  I looked at September 2017 and the grosses hovered around $1.4 million and in September 2016 they hovered around $1.3 million.   Quick glance at those records seem to point that the 2nd week of Sept to the 1st week of October are their lowest months.   

[BroadwayRox3588]

Patti LuPone FANatic said: "Good numbers for Chicago. Other shows...not so much."

Yeah just Chicago had good numbers. All the other shows bombed. That Hamilton just did a barf job. You right.

[Sauja]

OKBroadwayFan said: "It appears that this is the lowest gross for Wicked in 2018. I looked at September 2017 and the grosses hovered around $1.4 million and in September 2016 they hovered around $1.3 million. Quick glance at those records seem to point that the 2nd week of Sept to the 1st week of October are their lowest months."

For sure it's consistently their worst week, and then they bounce back to enormous numbers every time. It did have lower grosses earlier in the run especially since the top ticket price when it started was $100 (the good old days!!!!). My note was just about attendance. And again, I don't think it's a sign of anything. I just found it notable.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Sauja said: "Aladdin, The Lion King, Mean Girls, and Frozen were all up in grosses and attendance."

Indeed, but Kinky Boots, Anastasia,Waitress, and Once on This Island all took a pretty bad dive. And School of Rock is trudging along. 

[MadsonMelo]

Those numbers for Anastasia, wow! Did they ever had such a low gross before?


Waitress is also in bad shape, worse numbers than Beautiful LOL


Kinky Boots and OOTI will be gone by New Years. I believe if the other shows mentioned don't do something, they will also be gone by spring.
 

[kelsey1389]

Certainly no numbers expert here, but isn't Summer going to have to start thinking about closing with those kinds of numbers? I don't know if anything can save it at this point?

[Miles2Go2]

I’d actually say that if you only look at grosses and not percentages, most of the shows which have not announced a closing date are doing okay (at least meeting or exceeding their weekly nut). The notable exceptions of course are HOH and OOTI.

[SomethingPeculiar]

For January closings, I think we're looking at:

The inevitable:  OOTI, HOH
The rumored:  Kinky Boots
The very possible:  Beautiful, Summer, new additions Anastasia and Waitress

Anastasia and Waitress have to be hovering close to their break-evens, and Anastasia doesn't have a cushion of profit. Waitress isn't far off from Pippin's numbers the fall before the Weisslers closed it, unless they have another star lined up.