Broadway Show Ticket Sales Analysis w/e 03/06/2016

A Stable Box Office Week On Broadway

In the week ending March 6, 2016, the Broadway box office balanced out to almost the same as last week, with just a slight increase. With a few new spring shows having already begun previews, but not yet opened, we are in a transitional time before the buzz is buzzing and the weather is warmer, when sales should pick up.

In the meantime, the box office increased just $668,959 from the week before, with an additional show playing which alone earned $475,357 over its six previews. Therefore, of the 31 shows running both this past week and the week prior, the entire industry increased by just $193,602.

"Finding Neverland" Finds Success In The Box Office

Furthermore, the average gross per show running stayed approximately the same, at $646,249 this past week, and $645,517 the week before that. Of the 31 shows that ran in both weeks, 20 saw an increase in ticket sales, and 11 saw a decrease in sales. The biggest increase was seen by Finding Neverland, which brought in $642,636, or $186,899 greater than the previous week. However, that show also took a dip of $301,009 in the previous week, so this week is an increase which is still lower than two weeks prior.

The biggest decrease was seen by Les Misérables, which brought in $534,606, or $201,796 less than the week before. That represents a startlingly low 45.3% of the show’s gross potential. Other less notable, five-digit decreases were seen by Aladdin, The King and I, and The Book of Mormon.

“The Crucible” Begins And “Eclipsed” Takes A Dip

On March 1, 2016, The Crucible began previews at the Walter Kerr Theatre. In its first week of six preview performances, the show brought in $475,357, which represents 68.4% of its gross potential. With a top ticket price of $327.00, the average paid admission was $97.39, and the average audience capacity was filled up to 90.2%.

Starring two-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan, this Ivo van Hove directed production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible was off to a moderate start. Although the percentage reached of gross potential could have been higher, the average paid admission of just under $100 shows a fair but not crazy amount of discounting, and the average audience capacity demonstrates strong interest in the production.

Limited Engagement Run for "The Crucible"

The show is scheduled to open on March 31, 2016, and to run for a limited engagement until July 17, 2016. Meanwhile, one of last week’s new shows, Eclipsed starring Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o, brought in significantly less money this week than the week before, even though it played one more performance.

While last week was its first week of previews with just seven performances, its first full week of eight performances had a gross of $340,891, which is a decrease of $59,424 from the week before. The percentage reached of gross potential went down to 41.55% from last week’s 55.76%, and the average paid admission went down to $56.35 from last week’s $73.30. Chances are that this dip is just a matter of preview blues, and that the post-opening grosses will show more promise.