Highest Grossing Musical of All Time?

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 11:40am

There's a lot of talk about highest grossing movies, etc. and when I google highest grossing musicals, only a list of highest grossing movie musicals comes up? Does such a list exist for actual broadway musicals? Of course, the list would be adjusted for inflation for older shows, just like the list for highest grossing movies is.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 11:44am

No idea, but given its sheer longevity and success everywhere it's played, my guess would be Phantom.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 11:50am

I was thinking that too - but then I wondered how close Lion King may be. Lion King has been playing about 1/2 of the number of years but doubles Phantom's grosses every week.

[Barney Stinson]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 12:02pm

Per Broadway League, Phantom has grossed a total of about $807 million, with Lion King coming in at $767 million. Wicked has also grossed $540 million so far. Cats did something like $360 million.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 12:02pm

Are you counting money taken in from a shows tour(s) or just it's broadway run?

[jasonf]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 12:04pm

And are you talking world-wide? Wouldn't Les Mis be up there too if it was?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 12:06pm

Thats what I was thinking, as well.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 12:09pm

Yeah, if you're talking world-wide, Les Mis and maybe even Mamma Mia enters the discussion.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 12:11pm

Good point - that makes the list even harder to find. The list Barney is referring to only includes the Broadway production, not really an indiciation of how the show did worldwide. It's also not adjusted for inflation, making it a little difficult to compare the grosses, between, let's say Oklahoma! in 1943 to Wicked in 2011, for example.

Every list of highest grossing movies that I've seen is adjusted for inflation.

Updated On: 4/17/11 at 12:11 PM

[Barney Stinson]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 12:15pm

My numbers were Bway only. Not sure how you would find worldwide numbers.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 12:17pm

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

And worldwide, it's no contest. PHANTOM is the highest grossing single piece of entertainment in history, including films. It's worldwide take is over $5.1 billion.

Hell, you can even compare it to movie franchises, and the only thing that's taken in more money is the entirety of the "Harry Potter" series (at $6+ billion.)

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 12:19pm

Cape - where did that number come from? That would almost certainly make it the highest grossing show.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 12:32pm

Cape - where did that number come from? That would almost certainly make it the highest grossing show.

The website for Phantom of the Opera, Wikipedia, etc.

On Broadway, since its debut on January 26, 1988, The Phantom of THE OPERA has grossed over $795 million, making it the highest-grossing show in Broadway history. Total attendance is 14 million. Its international success - equally staggering - is represented by total worldwide grosses estimated at over $5 billion. This colossal figure makes PHANTOM the most successful entertainment venture of all time, surpassing not only any other stage production, but also far surpassing the world's highest-grossing film Avatar (at $2.7 billion). Worldwide, over 65,000 performances have been seen by 100 million people in 27 countries and 144 cities.

Read more: https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/PHANTOM_OF_THE_OPERA_to_Have_Best_Weekly_Gross_in_23_Year_History_20110103#ixzz1JnaAjw3r


There's no almost about it. PHANTOM is the highest grossing musical. "Avatar" doesn't even comes close and that's the highest grossing movie ever.

[Mark_E]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 12:36pm

I can remember from the Olivier Awards the advert for Phantom described it as the highest grossing single piece piece of entertainment of all time.

[The Pud]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 12:50pm

How about "The King and I"? Didn't it run for about 20 years or more?

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 1:01pm

The figures for 'Phantom' are correct and it is the highest grossing piece of entertainment of all time.

However the film version was a financial turkey.

Also up there must be 'Chicago' running for a long time on both sides of the Atlantic and successful touts worldwide, for a show that is relative cheap to produce, also remember 'Chicago' did brilliantly on the silver screen.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 1:15pm

It depends on what exactly you want to COUNT. Do you want to count just a single musical PROPERTY or a single PRODUCTION of that property.

If you want to say a property, then your highest-grossing would be PETER PAN. It's had dozens if not hundreds of major productions, was telecast live on television twice in the '50s, was broadcast in color and then released on VHS, had countless revivals and touring productions, and licenses HUNDREDS of productions (and has been doing so for years!).

Oh, and I'm just referring to the Comden/Green/Charlap/Leigh/Styne production. There are many other adaptations of the original play.

[MadonnaMusical]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 1:49pm

I would be to see the numbers of total number of tickets sold.... how many people world actually paid money to see the show...

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 2:26pm

I think numbers like this are moot. They don't reflect ticket inflation (which is warped beyond any perspective now).

The absolute highest priced ticket for "Cats" when it opened was $40.

Updated On: 4/17/11 at 02:26 PM

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 3:32pm

Best12bars - that was my point.

Madonna - if you're not going to adjust for inflation, number of tickets sold is the other fair measure.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 3:40pm

Movies are currently the only form of entertainment judged by money and not by audience size or number of units sold.

Books
Music
TV
Theatre

... all judged by how popular they are. How many units are sold or how many people are watching.

Movies ... are all about the money made when, in fact, there are far less people going to the movies today than there were ten years ago. Even five years ago. Let alone, during the golden age of the '30s through the '50s.

If Gone With the Wind were released today with today's ticket prices it would gross over 1.6 billion dollars domestically. Not worldwide, but just in the U.S. alone. Nobody goes to the movies like that anymore.

http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

I realize with theatre, you would have to look at the attendance, then at how many years the show ran. That's the only way to determine the most "seen" or most "popular" musical.

But "highest grossing?" Forget it.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 3:59pm

And even with movies, DVD/VHS/DOWNLOAD sales aren't reported. GONE WITH THE WIND could have grossed 1.6 billion domestically, but THE WIZARD OF OZ could have grossed 1.65 billion in accumulative DVD/VHS/DOWNLOAD sales.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 4:24pm

It is, without question, The Phantom of the Opera.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 5:02pm

Capn-
I don't mean this as a swipe, but I love that you always push Peter Pan first...I'd really take Oz into more account as well theatrically. It's not had as long, but I still think it would be as heavy contender as Pan.

[Barney Stinson]

Posted: 4/17/11 at 5:03pm

Actually more domestic movie tickets were sold last year than any year from 1980-1996, per the boxofficemojo site linked.

Definitely more tickets sold in the early 2000's than now though. I don't know about the 30s/40s, but the trends make sense. Before TV was widespread, movies were the only way for most people to "see a show" besides local live theater groups or traveling tours or the circus.

Then TV came along and you could watch programing in the living room. But still, for years, the only way to see a movie was at the theater. Occasionally, a network might show a movie, I guess.

Then HBO comes along, VCR's come along, and you can see a movie at home several months after it stops playing in theaters. That had to drive down movie ticket sales.

And now, home theater technology is so advanced, you can come fairly close to duplicating the theater experience at home if you are so inclined. Plus streaming videos, DVD's, MOD all make the delivery even easier than before.