Lion King” And “Book of Mormon" Set Ticket Sales Standard

“Lion King” And “Book of Mormon” Go Back To 8 Shows

In the week ending August 6, 2017, the Broadway office stayed fairly constant from the week prior. Of the 31 shows that were running this past week, the collective box office was $31,424,603, which is a decrease of $480,122 from the week before.

The per-show average weekly gross was $1,013,697, which is a slight decrease from the previous week’s per-show average of $1,063,491. The average percentage reached of gross potential was 75.27%, and the audiences were at an average 88.76% of capacity.

Big Decreases For High- Earning Musicals

The two biggest decreases from the week before were seen by the high-earning musicals The Lion King and The Book of Mormon, both of which had played 9 performances in the week prior, and this past week reverted to the usual 8 performances. The Lion King brought in a weekly gross of $2,276,325 this past week, which is a decrease of $306,714 from the week before, due to playing one fewer performance.

Still, this represents 91.6% of the show’s gross potential, which is only a slight decrease from 91.75% the week before. As for The Book of Mormon, that show brought in a weekly gross of $1,220,244 this past week, which is a decrease of $122,576 from the week before, likewise due to the reduced number of performances. That gross represents 102.34% of The Book of Mormon’s gross potential, which is actually an increase from the previous week’s 90.72%.

“Kinky Boots” Continues To Rise

Meanwhile, another long-running musical continues to show signs of growth. Kinky Boots, which has been running for years, is experiencing a heyday due to the presence of Brandon Urie in the cast.

This past week, Kinky Boots brought in a weekly gross of $1,684,263, or 134.0% of its gross potential, which was the highest gross potential of any show. Kinky Boots even outperformed Dear Evan Hansen at 124.2% of gross potential, Hello, Dolly! at 119.0% of gross potential, and Hamilton at 115.8%.

“Indecent” Concludes Run On A High Note

As for the straight plays from this past season, Indecent finally came to a close this past week, playing its final performance on August 6, 2017. As reported, that show previously had its best week in the week ending June 25, 2017, when it had precipitously announced closing prior to re-extending.

Now that the final grosses are in, it’s clear that fans were once again reluctant to see Indecent go. This past week, the show brought in the highest weekly gross of its entire run, bringing in $739,171, which represents 80.07% of its gross potential. While the average percentage reached of gross potential throughout the whole run was only 37.94%, this final outpouring of support shows that Indecent managed to build a devoted fanbase during its limited engagement.

New Shows: “Prince of Broadway” And “The Terms of My Surrender”

This past week, one new show began previews: Prince of Broadway played its first partial week of three performances this past week. From these first three shows, the gross totaled to $116,285, which represents just 41.5% of its gross potential.

This is not an extremely promising beginning for this new musical retrospective on the life’s work of Broadway director and producer Hal Prince. Nevertheless, the show still has time to build momentum before the opening night, after which reviews may seal the future prospects for this show.

Michael Moore's Broadway Debut

Meanwhile, Michael Moore continued on with his Broadway debut, the one-man show The Terms of My Surrender, in which he vows to take down President Donald Trump. The previous week showed a promising beginning, but this week’s numbers were more mediocre.

From this week’s seven performances, the weekly gross was $456,195, which represents 69.2% of the show’s gross potential. Broadway may prove to be a confusing platform for Michael Moore’s message, and his show may or may not demonstrate box office growth as the weeks wear on.