I don't get why everyone is saying this a goner and will close this year. Is the show grossing what it has the full potential to? Not quite, but it is not pulling dreadful numbers by any means (especially when comparing it to how other shows are doing the same weeks). Will this run for 20 years? Most likely not, but I don't see this closing this year.
Featured Actor Joined: 9/8/08
I just don't understand why this is all coming up now. Of course she deserves royalties from the work that she did on the show, but wasn't this what all of those meetings they had right before they let her go were about? I thought they had already gone through all of this.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/05
The way I read it, under this contract she has received only $125,000 so far as an early directing fee and is seeking her royalties due now from performances which is $300,000 additional so far.
I don't know if she has any other, additional contract for helping write the book, design work, etc.
when will this Soap Opera call "SpiderMan TOTD" end?
bwayphreak...true it is pulling in GREAT numbers. The problem however is that the numbers it is pulling in would be great for a show that does NOT have a nut that exceeds $1.3 million per week (This is based on the number that was given when the show FIRST started in November of last year which was $1 million, since then, with all the new safty procedures, overhauls, legal fees, closing/reopening, new creative team and countless other expenses, the number is AT LEAST $1.3) Since reopening, the show has only managed to reach the $1.3 million mark once by a SMALL margin so I dont even think it covered it's nut then. For a show thats only prayer at recouping within this decade by selling out EVERY show...making less then its gross potential and less then its nut is pretty bad.
If you look at the grosses from last week, very few shows even came close to covering their nut. Spider-Man is not the only show not covering it's nut. Many shows have rough weeks in the months between the Christmas tourists and the summer tourists. Other shows can probably afford having slow months more than Spider-Man, but I don't think Spider-Man is going to shut down by November.
Her lawsuit was perfectly timed....bad publicity or good publicity keeps Spiderman in the headlines and any publicity usually equals cash at the box office. Between her lawsuit, the 'official'opening and an appearance on the Tony Awards, people will start to care about this turkey all over again.
They burnt me once and it's not going to happen again!
Whether or not Spiderman is making any money, Taymor is owed royalties as laid out in her contract. This is why she has a contract and is repped by a union. The production has history of bad accounting that has had nothing to do with her. The amount of money we're talking is substantial.
A side note, I wonder if she is due royalties (albeit small)from the song released from the cast recording.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/05
In the Wall Street Journal both the Union and Julie insist, respectively, that there is no intent to stop the opening, and no intent to shut the show down:
"Ms. Penn emphasized that she does not expect the arbitration claim to affect the musical's production schedule, saying that "our intent is not to stop the opening of the production," a sentiment echoed by a spokeswoman for Ms. Taymor, Mara Buxbaum.
"From Julie's perspective, she doesn't have any desire to shut the show down on Broadway," Ms. Buxbaum said on Thursday, "but she has every expectation to be paid for her tireless work, which is on the stage every night.""
'Spider-Man' Has New Foe: A Union Claim
Videos