By Jennifer R Jones | Posted on December 07, 2016 4:05 PM
In The Week After Thanksgiving, Broadway Took A Dip Of Over $5 Million, Led By Hamilton, Which Went Down By Over $1 Million.
“Hamilton” Brings Over A Million Dollars Less Than Last Week
In last week’s ticket sales analysis, it was remarkable that Hamilton had crossed the $3 million weekly gross mark for the first time. The reason is that for the first time, the top ticket price for the legally sold box office tickets was $998.00, as opposed to their regular top ticket price of $549.00.
The top ticket price is for premiere seats, but it is also an indication of the overall disbursement of ticket prices throughout the theatre, from orchestra to mezzanine to balcony. In the case of Hamilton, the producers took the term “dynamic pricing” very seriously, as they priced their tickets much higher than usual to match the high demand of Thanksgiving week.
Prices Level Out After Thanksgiving Demand
However, as this week’s numbers show, that was not intended to be a permanent price jump. Thankfully, the tickets are back to the normal, exorbitant prices, as opposed to the hyperbolically exorbitant prices seen last week. However, this change has taken a toll on the weekly gross figures.
This past week, Hamilton brought in $2,233,259, which is a whopping decrease of $1,026,830 from the week before. This represents 102.93% of the show’s gross potential. Interestingly, the previous week with a gross of over $3 million was only slightly higher in terms of the percentage reached of gross potential: 103.48%. Therefore, as the demand surges, so do the prices, which allows Hamilton to fulfill demand and reap in the benefits, as fits any given week.
Industry Took a Hit of Over $5 Million
Hamilton was not the only show to take a plunge following the week of Thanksgiving. Of the 33 shows running this past week, the entire industry saw a collective decrease in ticket sales of $5,663,713.
While Hamilton makes up almost a fifth of this decrease, many other shows decreased in ticket sales as well. After Hamilton’s giant plunge of over $1 million, the next biggest decrease was seen by School of Rock – the Musical, which decreased by $597,431 to reach a weekly gross of $992,601.
Big Decreases Across The Board
Furthermore, three of the generally highest earning shows took a big dip as well: The Lion King decreased by $596,627 to reach a weekly gross of $1,899,705, Wicked decreased by $550,930 to reach a weekly gross of $1,736,046, and Aladdin decreased by $544,442 to reach a weekly gross of $1,502,623.
Other big decreases were seen by The Phantom of the Opera, which decreased by $457,939 to reach a weekly gross of $798,061, Cats, which decreased by $364,291 to reach a weekly gross of $839,523, Matilda, which decreased by $352,558 to reach a weekly gross of $910,704, Fiddler on the Roof, which decreased by $277,168 to reach a weekly gross of $779,306, and Something Rotten!, which decreased by $208,997 to reach a weekly gross of $656,689.
"Beautiful" Saw Box Office Success
On the other hand, the biggest increase was seen by Beautiful, which went up by $120,833 to reach a weekly gross of $1,002,442, followed by Heisenberg, which went up by $111,326 to reach a weekly gross of $423,787, and Jersey Boys, which went up by $102,228 to reach a weekly gross of $1,085,083.
