Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 9/15/24

[Rob]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 2:31pm

Click below to access all the Broadway grosses from all the shows for the week ending 9/15/2024 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 (% of capacity) was: CHICAGO (10.1%), THE GREAT GATSBY (8.1%), WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (7.2%), BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL (6.1%), THE NOTEBOOK (6%), ALADDIN (5.7%), SIX (5.6%), JOB (5.3%), SUFFS (4.4%), CABARET AT THE KIT KAT CLUB (3.7%), & JULIET (3.3%), THE BOOK OF MORMON (2.9%), THE LION KING (2.8%), HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD (2.6%), MJ THE MUSICAL (2.4%), HADESTOWN (2.2%), HAMILTON (1.3%), HELL'S KITCHEN (1.3%), ONCE UPON A MATTRESS (1.3%), MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL (0.9%), STEREOPHONIC (0.7%),

Down for the week by attendance (% of capacity) was: THE OUTSIDERS (-3.6%), THE ROOMMATE (-3.5%), WICKED (-1.2%),

Click Here to Visit the BroadwayWorld Grosses...

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 2:41pm

The post-Labor Day drop wasn’t that precipitous at all for most!

Not that great of a start for Hills of California and Yellow Face, but let’s see if some positive buzz can translate into more sales. 

Emphatic ending for Eddie + Gayle at Cabaret. I assume the numbers for the new leads will be even higher on a weekly basis!

We’re at a $1.63 billion pace this season right now in gross gross (behind just the 2018-19 and 17-18 all-time highs). Not bad at all. 

 

[Kad]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 2:44pm

I continue to be extremely impressed by Oh, Mary's box office. I wanted it to be successful, but I never expected it to do this kind of business.

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 3:09pm

fwiw Hills of California was also doing Broadway Week in their first week so the grosses may be higher next week.  But it's also included in MTC's subscription so their numbers would probably be slightly off from that of a commercial run anyway.

[scripps]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 3:12pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "The post-Labor Day drop wasn’t that precipitous at all for most!

Not that great of astart forHills of CaliforniaandYellow Face,but let’s see if some positive buzz can translate into more sales.

Emphatic ending for Eddie + Gayle atCabaret. I assume the numbers for the new leads willbe even higher on a weekly basis!

We’reat a $1.63 billion pace this season right now in gross gross(behind just the 2018-19 and 17-18 all-time highs). Not bad at all.

"

I don't know. Cabaret is up at TKTS right now for 40% off for tonight's performance and tomorrow's matinee. Sales are looking pretty soft if you glance at most seating charts in the weeks ahead so I am very curious to see where the grosses go from here.

[Feidlimid]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 3:25pm

scripps said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "The post-Labor Day drop wasn’t that precipitous at all for most!

Not that great of astart forHills of CaliforniaandYellow Face,but let’s see if some positive buzz can translate into more sales.

Emphatic ending for Eddie + Gayle atCabaret. I assume the numbers for the new leads willbe even higher on a weekly basis!

We’reat a $1.63 billion pace this season right now in gross gross(behind just the 2018-19 and 17-18 all-time highs). Not bad at all.

"

I don't know. Cabaret is up at TKTS right now for 40% off for tonight's performance and tomorrow's matinee. Sales are looking pretty soft if you glance at most seating charts in the weeks ahead so I am very curious to see where the grosses go from here."

They don't sell well on Wednesday matinees no matter who is in or out. I think that has to do with it being a much darker show, plus the nature of the production with the pre-show stuff itself. Don't know, maybe 7 shows a week would be better on balance?  But yeah, the pricing is much cheaper across the board, and for all table seats is anywhere from 150-100 cheaper than what they were for Redmayne. They'll have to get the new cast to do a lot more promo, though only Cravalho has other projects with big interest attached that might help crossover here. 

[OrchardAndRivington]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 3:34pm

I think Cabaret will stay close to sold out, especially with TKTS/discounts, but I could see the Avg Ticket price dropping down into the $150 range, lowering the weekly grosses to about $1.25M/wk. It was in the $200+ per ticket range for the first part of it's run but fell off to the $170/$1.7M range at the end of Rankin/Redmayne's run. If the advance stays this light through Lambert/Cravalho run they will need to start looking to MUCH bigger stars to pull the grosses they need to pay off the initial investment and start to turn a profit. 

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 3:43pm

McNeal only had five performances last week since RDJ went to the Emmys and it still made almost a million

[Ensemble1696584123]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 3:49pm

There's a case to be made for RDJ being the biggest film star in the world at this moment. Does he surpass Tom Cruise? But it's still interesting that people will shell out hundreds of dollars to see someone like him in an unknown play, but most of them won't watch an acclaimed TV perfromance on a service they proably already have.

[OhHiii]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 3:59pm

Anyone else think Back to the Future will be a thing of the past come 2025? These numbers have end of the year closing written all over it to me. Esp since it hasn't proven to be a holiday juggernaut to make up for losses that one may initially think given brand recognition. That said, I'm sure the Shuberts would prefer the house have a tenant, so they may cut a deal that extends. I can't think of any large scale musicals that would be eyeing the Winter Garden is there?

[JasonC3]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 4:06pm

Kad said: "I continue to be extremely impressed by Oh, Mary's box office. I wanted it to be successful, but I never expected it to do this kind of business."

Agree, particularly with the average ticket price being one of the highest. I wonder if the strong TV exposure on major late night and daytime talk shows has helped broaden the buzz and interest.

[MayAudraBlessYou2]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 4:10pm

The one caveat for Back to the Future is that Universal is one of the producers (their theatrical arm) and there could be a world in which they want to pump money into it to keep it running if they feel it helps the overall brand they are trying to build (with tours and other sit down productions). But yes, the show is simply too expensive to run at these grosses. A Jan/Feb closing seems imminent. 

I don't know anything off the top of my head that is looking to come in that would fill the Winter Garden. Smash is the only "big" musical without an announced theater...but I'm fairly certain they have the Imperial. Perhaps Florence Welsch's Gatsby? I don't know how big of a production Matt Doyle's Sinatra or Jonathan Groff's Bobby Darin project are, but on paper they don't seem right for the theater. In any case, even if no show wants the theater, BTTF would need a sizeable rent discount to keep going.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 4:17pm

Wasn’t Good Night, and Good Luck being rumored for the Winter Garden in the spring? Clooney could easily pack ‘em all in for his Broadway debut. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 4:23pm

OhHiii said: "Anyone else think Back to the Future will be a thing of the past come 2025? These numbers have end of the year closing written all over it to me. Esp since it hasn't proven to be a holiday juggernaut to make up for lossesthat one may initially think given brand recognition. That said, I'm sure the Shuberts would prefer the house have a tenant, so they may cut a deal that extends. I can't think of any large scale musicals that would be eyeing the Winter Garden is there?"
 

Yes, I bet we'll see an announcement soon. Numbers in the 700s-900s are unsustainable for this show, and they haven't cracked a mil in more than a month. I don't see any reason why Universal Theatrical Group would pour money into BTTF when they're Lead-producing DEATH BECOMES HER and merely a co-producer/rightsholder on BTTF. BTTF has already been running more than a year, and the tour is where it can really clean up.

I have no doubt Shubert has a number of possible tenants for the Winter Garden.

I recall someone on here alleging that Good Night & Good Luck was interested in the WG. George Clooney might be the rare star who could fill 1500 seats. The last non-musical plays at the WG were Wolf Hall (2015) and Othello w JEJ & Christopher Plummer (1982), and a number of plays ran there in the 50s-70s, so it wouldn't be unprecedented.

CATS...?

Updated On: 9/17/24 at 04:23 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 7:31pm

MayAudraBlessYou2 said: "The one caveat for Back to the Future is that Universal is one of the producers (their theatrical arm) and there could be a world in which they want to pump money into it to keep it running if they feel it helps the overall brand they are trying to build (with tours and other sit down productions). But yes, the show is simply too expensive to run at these grosses. A Jan/Feb closing seems imminent.

I don't know anything off the top of my head that is looking to come in that would fill the Winter Garden. Smash is the only "big" musical without an announced theater...but I'm fairly certain they have the Imperial. Perhaps Florence Welsch's Gatsby? I don't know how big of a production Matt Doyle's Sinatra or Jonathan Groff's Bobby Darin project are, but on paper they don't seem right for the theater. In any case, even if no show wants the theater, BTTF would need a sizeable rent discount to keep going."

I feel like anytime a major studio is backing a show we get a lot of speculation about how much money they are willing to lose to keep it running, and then they end up closing the show just like any other smart producer would. I remember back when Shrek was running, there was so much "Dreamworks will keep it running just to keep it running" talk, even within the theatre itself. At one point the cast were told not to worry, they'd be staying open at least until the newest Shrek movie was released (I think it was Shrek the Fourth?), and then they got their closing notice a few weeks after being told that, and well before that movie opened in theaters.

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 7:35pm

BTTF is behind Suffs and barely ahead of Water For Elephants and The Notebook. There's no way it's surviving past January.

[Kad]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 7:48pm

Studios are far more willing to cut their losses these days- look at the movies that have been shelved after completion, series abruptly ended, and things yanked from streaming so residuals don't have to be paid in the last couple years.

[OhHiii]

Posted: 9/17/24 at 9:08pm

Universal is not a producer on BTTF. Universal *Pictures* is the licensor of the film rights, that’s all. Collin Ingram is the lead producer as laid out on the title page. Universal *Theatrical* as an entity will be making its Broadway debut with Death Becomes Her. Even the involvement on Wicked is not through the Theatrical entity, but Universal Pictures above title because the theatrical arm didn’t exist when Wicked started. It’s weird but it’s how it is. 

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 9/18/24 at 2:01am

My Playbills for Back to the Future, Good Night Oscar, A Beautitul Noise, and Almost Famous all list Universal Theatrical as Co-Producers, so I don’t know where you’re getting the idea that they have nothing to do with BTTF or that they’re making their Broadway debut with Death Becomes Her. Their Playbill bio even lists projects going back to Billy Elliot. 

[OhHiii]

Posted: 9/18/24 at 7:14am

I should have qualified that Universal is not the *lead* producer and will be making its LEAD producing Broadway debut with DBH (and is financing it entirely). And often, the studios will get producer credits in the billing without investment (if they had significant investment in any of the shows you list, they would be much farther up on the title page billing block). In the case of BTTF, they’re on the same line as Zemeckis, so it’s quite likely these are a term of the license agreement. Helpful to remember that just because a name is above title doesn’t mean they gave anything monetarily. They can be co-producers for various contributions (people on this board think every celebrity announced as a co-producer is giving them money and going to keep a show open when all they did was commit to a social media post and to show up at opening night for a picture in hopes of winning a Tony). In any case, Universal isn’t shoveling any money into something that very clearly doesn’t have a successful trajectory. It’s not like film studios are consistently raking it in right now from theatrical releases and in the case of Universal specifically, Wicked’s success remains to be seen given recent movie musical box office. 
 

TL;DR: The show will close soon, Universal isn’t going to pay to keep it running.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 9/18/24 at 10:08am

Universal’s involvement with Wicked is interesting, because it started as a Marc Platt film that he was producing for Universal. Universal is only listed as a producer of the stage show because of that. Isn’t the current makeup of Universal Theatricals technically a continuation of Dreamworks Theatricals? 

Updated On: 9/18/24 at 10:08 AM