Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 6/2/24- Page 2

[Huss417]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 4:34pm

binau said: "How long until the Ben Platt haters start a conspiracy that his daddy actually bought the tickets just before show curtain to help save face for these grosses :P? They definitely are not as terrible as I would have predicted!"

Out of 24 posts so far in the thread you were the only one at this point.

Updated On: 6/4/24 at 04:34 PM

[MayAudraBlessYou2]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 4:47pm

Does anyone know what the weekly nut is for Suffs? It feels like they are probably just making it above it each week. They might be the show that most needs to win Best Musical for the sales boost. Though Hell's Kitchen is certainly out-campaigning them at the moment.

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 4:54pm

flord10 said: "DramaTeach said: "itsjustmejonhotmailcom said: "nasty_khakis said: "Some producer recently told me that a lot (not all) of shows are done on broadway knowing they're probably going to fail or struggle but they know they'll make a fortune in both regional and amateur licensing. Heart of Rock and Roll is a fun choice for high schools because of the bigger ensemble, dance numbers, easy paint by numbers love story, etc. Not saying that's what these specific producers are thinking/doing but sometimes you just know high schools are going to all do Back to the Future even without the special effects."

It would be unusual (but not unheard of) for a show that flops on Broadway to make a fortune in licensing. Some money? Yes. A fortune? Probably not."

Tell that to Fester, Gomez, and the other Addams’."

They said unusual, not that it never happens"

I would disagree that it’s unusual. You have to look at the show and assess each show on its marketability. HoRR is one that I wouldn’t be shocked to hear will be done a lot locally and in schools. Like SpongeBob, Wedding Singer, Shrek, Seussical, All Shook Up, etc. None of those lasted long on Broadway, but are done a lot now.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 4:55pm

Per Deadline, Platt played to 87% capacity audiences last week; the initial report was 73%.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 5:08pm

DramaTeach said: "Tell that to Fester, Gomez, and the other Addams’."

The Addams Family was reportedly very close to recouping when it closed. So while it did technically close as a flop, it was still a flop that ran a year and a half and was, by at least some estimates I had heard, within 90% of its recoupment. That's a big difference than some of these shows that bleed money for the entirety of their run, meaning they are starting almost from zero, if not negative numbers (because of additional priority loans taken in the vain hope of turning things around), when they start touring and releasing the licensing rights.

[binau]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 5:13pm

Huss417 said: "binau said: "How long until the Ben Platt haters start a conspiracy that his daddy actually bought the tickets just before show curtain to help save face for these grosses :P? They definitely are not as terrible as I would have predicted!"

Out of 24 posts so far in the thread you were the only one at this point."

Is it not obvious that I was joking? I’m not literally expecting it to happen. 

 

[GottaGetAGimmick420]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 5:20pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "Per Deadline, Platt played to 87% capacity audiences last week; the initial report was73%."

lol

[Huss417]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 5:30pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "Per Deadline, Platt played to 87% capacity audiences last week; the initial report was73%."

Maybe I am just missing the article but I don't see it posted on Deadline yet.

Just found it. Maybe they forgot to add all the comp seats they gave away.

https://deadline.com/2024/06/broadway-box-office-ben-platt-june-2-2024-1235958508/
 

Updated On: 6/4/24 at 05:30 PM

[LuckyDipster]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 7:06pm

pablitonizer said: "BTTF has been below the 1 million figure for the past 5 weeks so I don't give it a long run anymore"

It was over the million mark last week.

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 8:04pm

dramamama611 said: "Has any show with zero nominations ever performed? Seems like an odd choice when there are def shows with at least SOME noms that would love the chance."

A Beautiful Noise last year... granted, it was the only currently running musical at the time that wasn't nominated so that's a little different than this year's situation.

[quizking101]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 10:19pm

dramamama611 said: "Has any show with zero nominations ever performed? Seems like an odd choice when there are def shows with at least SOME noms that would love the chance."

Remember that they also gave the 11 O’Clock slot last year to an unnecessary vanity moment for Lea Michele in Funny Girl

[magicfingers]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 10:29pm

The writers of Suessical, Addams Family, legally Blonde etc would disagree with you. They’ve made a FORTUNE over the last decades on the licensing for those chose. Millions.

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 11:14pm

magicfingers said: "The writers of Suessical, Addams Family, legally Blonde etc would disagree with you. They’ve made a FORTUNE over the last decades on the licensing for those chose. Millions."

Yeah but those are pre-sold titles that were always going to do great on the amateur circuit. A show like Heart of R&R could be popular with high schools but it's not going to have the brand name that will make it a show done in every amateur theatre across the nation so it's a tougher hill to climb there too. Not to mention that Addams Family and Legally Blonde had decent runs on Broadway too even if they didn't get awards recognition.

Edit: To clarify, I do think Heart of R&R will be a player on the amateur stages but I don't see it being the kind of show that rakes in millions or has a second life the way a show like Addams Family has.

Updated On: 6/4/24 at 11:14 PM

[itsjustmejonhotmailcom]

Posted: 6/5/24 at 12:35am

magicfingers said: "The writers of Suessical, Addams Family, legally Blonde etc would disagree with you. They’ve made a FORTUNE over the last decades on the licensing for those chose. Millions."

The difference is that Addams Family and Legally Blonde ran for a while on Broadway and didn't close at a complete loss. Could HoRR get licensed a lot? Perhaps. They probably aren't going to get much in the way of an advance from the licensing companies. But collecting a couple of thousand dollars for each high school production isn't a financial windfall when it has already lost millions. I said was that it was unlikely, not impossible.

[Sammy232]

Posted: 6/5/24 at 7:57am

magicfingers said: "The writers of Suessical, Addams Family, legally Blonde etc would disagree with you. They’ve made a FORTUNE over the last decades on the licensing for those chose. Millions."

Didn't Seussical take something like 15 years to be able to make up the investor losses?

 

[DaveyG]

Posted: 6/5/24 at 8:22am

Sammy232 said: "magicfingers said: "The writers of Suessical, Addams Family, legally Blonde etc would disagree with you. They’ve made a FORTUNE over the last decades on the licensing for those chose. Millions."

Didn't Seussical take something like 15 years to be able to make up the investor losses?

"

In an average licensing deal, royalties are split 60/40 in favor of the authors for the first 18-20 years. Then 70/30 for 10 years, 80/20 for 10 years, etc.  These figures can be slightly different per negotiations. So there is a path to recoupment through licensing - but it's a crawl not a sprint. 

[Auggie27]

Posted: 6/5/24 at 9:21am

In the "why the Tonys?" I'm remembering the lengthy Ghost performance, which included the interpolated pop hit from the film. Didn't Ghost only have nominations for set, lighting and new Oscar winner Da'Vine Joy Randolph? And she wasn't invited to perform. 

[Kad]

Posted: 6/5/24 at 9:37am

I think the absolute nadir of “why?” Tony performances was when the Royal Caribbean cruise cast of Hairspray performed in 2012, in an absolutely shameless corporate plug. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/5/24 at 9:41am

Auggie27 said: "In the "why the Tonys?" I'm remembering the lengthy Ghost performance, which included the interpolated pop hit from the film. Didn't Ghost only have nominations for set, lighting and new Oscar winnerDa'Vine Joy Randolph? And she wasn't invited to perform."

I didn’t know even realize that was her 

[BJR]

Posted: 6/5/24 at 9:41am

Kad said: "I think the absolute nadir of “why?” Tony performances was when the Royal Caribbean cruise cast of Hairspray performed in 2012, in an absolutely shameless corporate plug."

Wasn't that part of Howard Sherman's push to include "all types of theatre," just as when the national tour of Mamma Mia performed (the year before?)?

[hearthemsing22]

Posted: 6/5/24 at 10:02am

I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but how does someone figure out what the "nut" is for a show?

[DaveyG]

Posted: 6/5/24 at 10:13am

hearthemsing22 said: "I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but how does someone figure out what the "nut" is for a show?"

Philip Boroff is a reliable source for capitalizations and weekly running costs. 

http://broadwayjournal.com/author/bwayjournal/

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/5/24 at 11:08am

If a show loses everything on Broadway, it is close to impossible for the investors to get to 100% in the future.

• A tour is a separate entity from the Broadway capitalization. The original Broadway entity (the Mother Company) usually gets less than 5% of the tour gross. So to simplify numbers, let's say it's doing well on the road and grosses an average of $1 mil a week for a year, and 3% goes back to the Mother Company: That's $30,000 a week ($1.5 mil in a year), which isn't nothing, and there may be international productions as well with a comparable percentage, but it's a TINY fraction of a $15 million+ capitalization.
• For licensing, the arrangement is typically as follows: for the first ten years, authors get 60% of the fee, the Mother Company gets 40%. For the next 8 years, the author share increases. After 18 years, the entire sum goes to the authors. That could be as little as a couple hundred bucks per licensed production being split among the investors.

Also remember: if a Bway show needs additional money to keep it running, that money comes in the form of a Priority Loan. With a Priority Loan, all money that would ordinarily go to the investor pool goes to the person who put up the loan. Once that loan is paid back, then the investors who put up the original $15 mil capitalization can start sharing in revenue. This is probably how HEART is continuing at a loss, and some people view a Priority Loan as a bad thing because of the way it can hurt the show's original investors.

So the revenue comes in at a trickle in a best-case scenario. They'll get more than $0. But it probably won't get close to 100% or even 75%.

The authors stand to do far better than the investors and producers, but that's not what the conversation is about here.

Updated On: 6/5/24 at 11:08 AM

[Up In One]

Posted: 6/5/24 at 6:10pm

The producers of next season's shows are giving all these under 1-million-dollar grossing shows the malocchio!

[willep]

Posted: 6/6/24 at 6:54pm

I’m surprised by An Enemy of the People’s attendance number. I went over the weekend and had standing room and was shocked at how many empty seats there were.