By Christina Morningside | Posted on October 05, 2017 8:57 AM
Broadway Stayed Constant In Terms Of Box Office From The Week Before, And Charlie And The Chocolate Factory Brought In Its Lowest Gross Yet.
Some Up, Some Down - Shows Even Out To Consistent Performance
In the week ending October 1, 2017, the Broadway box office stayed fairly constant from the week before. While some shows saw an increase in ticket sales, and others saw a decrease, overall the collective box office gross was almost the same as the week prior.
This past week, with 24 shows running, the collective box office gross amounted to $23,206,324, which is an increase of just $111,975 from the same 24 shows the week before. This amounts to an average per-show gross of $966,930, which is a slight increase from last week’s per-show average of $962,265.
"Kinky Boots" Sees Big Increase
With an average top ticket price of $305.60, the average paid admission across the board was $116.92, and the audiences were filled up on average to a capacity of 84.10%. In total, the average percentage reached of gross potential across the board was 70.39%. The biggest increase was seen by Kinky Boots, which went up by just $70,786 to reach a weekly gross of $766,075. The Phantom of the Opera went up by $53,546 to reach a weekly gross of $931,862.
Anatasia went up by $38,115 to reach a weekly gross of $822,993. As for straight plays, Time and the Conways went up by $32,734 to reach a weekly gross of $297,651, 1984 went up by $30,348 to reach a weekly gross of $302,268, and The Play That Goes Wrong went up by $22,462 to reach a weekly gross of $319,533. As for the long-running musicals, they nudged upwards by a negligible amount: The Lion King went up by $16,826 to reach a weekly gross of $1,876,322, Wicked went up by $10,932 to reach a weekly gross of $1,419,065, and Hamilton went up by $8,834 to reach a weekly gross of $2,941,667.
“Charlie And The Chocolate Factory” Bottoms Out With Lowest Gross Yet
The biggest decrease was seen by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; this show brought in a gross of $558,636, which is a decrease of $109,580 from the week before, and which represents just 40.17% of its gross potential.
After winning no Tony Awards, this show has been struggling to retain healthy box office grosses. This past week, however, was the lowest weekly gross the show has brought in since beginning performances on March 28, 2017. The show began strong, with the first few weeks of previews bringing in 90-95% of its gross potential.
Middle Of The Road Sales
Shortly after the Tony Awards, even though it went home empty-handed, the show attracted more ticket buyers due to the enhanced word of mouth, and for two more weeks the show’s percentage reached of gross potential was also in the 90s. Throughout the bulk of the summer, the performance was not fabulous but still not dismal, with grosses consistently over $1 million, and over 70% of gross potential, every week through mid-August. However, starting the week ending August 20, 2017, the grosses began to dip down; that week brought in a gross of $880,764, or 63.34% of gross potential, and the grosses have steadily decreased from there.
At this rate, the Broadway production might not last much longer than the New Years holiday, even though it is still slated for an open-ended run at this stage. Meanwhile, the West End production closed in January 2017, but a UK tour is in the works, and a U.S. tour is slated to launch at some point in September 2018. As for the Broadway production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, however, at this rate it won’t last long.
