By Jennifer R Jones | Posted on October 26, 2017 11:12 AM
Bruce Springsteen Continued To Perform Excellently At The Box Office As Well As Onstage, As The Entire Industry Saw A Boost Across The Box Office.
Steady Upward Momentum In Fall Season
This past week, the week ending October 22, 2017, the Broadway industry continued to show steady upward momentum. Over the course of the 29 shows running last week, 14 saw an increase in ticket sales, and 15 saw a decrease. Nevertheless, the overall difference was an improvement.
Big Increase for Springsteen
This biggest increase was seen by Springsteen on Broadway, which rebounded from its slightly slower second week into its best week yet for its third week. Across the five performances this past week, the weekly gross was $2,376,370, which is an increase of $451,552 from the week before.
With a top ticket price of $850, the average paid admission was $502.40, and the audience was filled up to 100.0% of capacity. In contrast, the previous week had an average paid admission of $409.97, and a weekly gross of $1,924,818, and the first week had an average paid admission of $496.72, and a weekly gross of $2,332,108.
High Hopes For Holiday Season
Therefore, the improvement this past week demonstrates that Springsteen has as enormous a draw as first expected from the first week’s box office performance. As the holiday season approaches, Springsteen on Broadway is likely to see even higher average paid admission and weekly grosses.
The next biggest increase was seen by the recently begun M. Butterfly, which played a full week of eight performances this past week, up from 7 the week before. As such, the weekly gross increased by $118,731 to reach a gross of $640,097, or 68.10% of its gross potential.
Box Office Increases For Many
Furthermore, The Band’s Visit increased by $103,249 to reach a weekly gross of $872,163, The Terms of My Surrender increased by $71,518 to reach a weekly gross of $367,624, and Time and the Conways increased by $61,755 to reach a weekly gross of $356,265. In contrast, the biggest decrease was seen by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which went down by $91,577 to reach a weekly gross of $739,172, and The Phantom of the Opera went down by $82,464 to reach a weekly gross of $1,007,984.
New Show: “Latin History For Morons”
Beyond the ebb and flow of the currently running shows, this past week saw a boost in overall box office due in part to the beginning of performances for a new fall show: John Leguizamo’s Latin History for Morons.
Transferring to Broadway from a successful Off-Broadway run at the Public Theater, Leguizamo’s solo show is a satirical history lesson regarding the contributions of Latinos to society across the years.
Positive Reviews Spur Broadway Buzz
In its first partial week of 3 preview performances, Latin History for Morons brought in a weekly gross of $312,337, which represents 82.8% of its gross potential. With a top ticket price of $249, the average paid admission was $118.62, and the audience was filled up to 87.4% of its gross potential. Once this show opens on November 15, 2017, there is sure to be an uptick in ticket sales, as this positively reviewed show will certainly spur a degree of buzz due to word of mouth.
Overall, the entire Broadway industry brought in a weekly gross this past week of $30,630,792, which is an increase of $702,296 from the week before, and which represents an average percentage reached of gross potential of 77.97%.
