Thanks to hits like Harry Potter and To Kill a Mockingbird, Broadway has posted a new record.
According to a new report, Broadway has ended 2018 setting new records.
Thanks to popular shows like To Kill a Mockingbird, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and Hamilton, the 2018 calendar year was the industry’s highest grossing and best attended on record. The Broadway industry brought in $1.83 billion in grosses.
The figure has beaten 2017’s $1.64 billion, 2016’s $1.37 billion, and 2015’s $1.36 billion.
In total, Broadway productions brought in a record-breaking 14.4 million attendees. This has beaten 2017’s 13.7 million.
During Christmas week, 39 Broadway productions grossed a combined $57.8 million. The previous week, these productions had brought in a combined $41 million. Attendance for Christmas week reached 378,910, up 23% over the previous week.
In addition, every single production of the aforementioned 39 saw increased revenue that week. 20 productions squeezed in additional performances. Several, including Harry Potter and To Kill a Mockingbird, broke records. Mean Girls broke its own house record with close to $2 million.
Three Disney musicals – Aladdin, Frozen, and The Lion King – also broke house records. Aladdin brought in $2.6 million on nine performances at the New Amsterdam Theatre. Frozen set a record, bringing in $2.3 million over eight shows at the St. James Theatre. Over nine shows, The Lion King broke the Marquis Theatre record with $3.7 million.
At the historic Broadway Theatre, the critically-dismissed play, King Kong, earned a monstrous $243,090 in a Sunday performance. That has become the best-selling single performance in the theatre’s history.
At the Marquis Theatre, The Illusionists – Magic of the Holidays set an all-time weekly box office record. Over 16 performances, the magic show earned $2.9 million.
Music-oriented shows, however, didn’t perform so well.
Likely due to weak star power, Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken’s American Idol reunion performed poorly. Over nine performances, the reunion only brought in $163,429. This marks just 11% of its potential gross. That week, the Broadway Theatre was only 27% full.
Featured image by Broadway Tour (CC by 2.0).