Broadway Show Ticket Sales Analysis w/e 01/31/2016

This Week’s Notable Movements on Broadway are:

Broadway’s Back in the Game Following Winter Storm

In the week ending January 31, 2016, Broadway experienced a significant resurgence following a slow week, in which two performances were cancelled for every show due to the snowstorm. This past week, however, the entire industry experienced a growth in ticket sales. Of the 30 shows currently running, every single show saw an increase in sales. That was not a particularly difficult achievement, given that the comparison was to a 6-show week. However, the upsurge is still encouraging. Across the 30 shows, the entire industry saw an increase of $8,184,436, and the average gross per show was $787,242. The average percentage reached of gross potential of all the shows was 64.55%.

The biggest increases were seen by Wicked, bringing in $486,472 more than the week before at $1,469,622, The Lion King, bringing in $450,458 more than the week before at $1,513,498, Hamilton, bringing in $427,860 more than the week before at $1,732,653, Aladdin, bringing in $403,499 more than the week before at $1,234,997, Fiddler on the Roof, bringing in $382,691 more than the week before at $1,039,910, and The Book of Mormon, bringing in $374,968 more than the week before at $1,343,531.

"Hamilton" Outperforms Eleven Shows on Broadway

The top grossing show by a long shot was Hamilton, which is especially notable given that Wicked and The Lion King play in much bigger theatres. In fact, eleven shows have a higher gross earning potential than Hamilton, and yet Hamilton brought in $1,732,653, which represents 129.8% of its gross potential.

“King Charles III” Concludes Run with Highest Weekly Gross Yet

Among the plays on Broadway this fall, King Charles III received arguably the best reviews. It was a transfer from London’s West End, and deals with a hypothetical situation involving British politics. Whereas British political shows, such as last season’s The Audience, have been known to fare well on Broadway, The Audience had a star who is well known in America, Helen Mirren. King Charles III, on the other hand, starred Tim Pigott-Smith, who is a far cry from a household name in the States. Therefore, it was a risky gamble going in for King Charles III, and the show has concluded its run with dignity, if not with recoupment. Despite not ending the run in profits, King Charles III commanded its highest weekly gross yet in the week ending January 31, 2016.

It brought in $732,328, which represents 73.47% of its gross potential. Throughout the 16-week run, the show brought in $9,411,612, and on average reached 60.80% of its gross potential. Furthermore, the average audience capacity was filled up to 81.44%. While the Broadway capitalization has not been revealed, it is presumed that the show’s running costs each week prevented the producers from using the upwards of $9 million overall gross to full pay back their investors. Nevertheless, the show was a critical hit, and unless it is penalized for being in the long-ago fall by the time the Tony Awards come around, it may also do quite well in awards season later this year.

The Following are the Broadway Ticket Sales Numbers for the Week Ending January 31, 2016:

Broadway ticket sales raw data are provided courtesy of The Broadway League All other data, text, opinion, charts and commentary are copyright © 2016 nytix.com