The week between Christmas and New Year’s is historically the most profitable one for Broadway, but it truly outdid itself this year, breaking its own record to rake in over $50 million in gross profit for 32 shows, according to numbers provided by The Broadway League.
This tops the record set the same week last year, which saw $49.7 million is gross profit from 33 shows, and is an almost $10.5 million increase over already high profits earned last week ending on Christmas Eve. Forbes reports that total Broadway sales tallied $1.637 billion in 2017, compared to $1.367 billion last year, and attendance was up to 13.74 million from 13.25 million in 2016.
Consistent Broadway leader Hamilton came up shy of hitting the $4 million mark that seemed possible after last week’s $3.79 million, but it still broke an industry record with $3.85 million gross for eight shows.
Other top earners that broke the $3 million mark were The Lion King, breaking a house record with $3.01m and Wicked, which broke its own show record with $3.3m.
The Phantom of the Opera, The Book of Mormon, Springsteen on Broadway, Hello, Dolly!, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, and Aladdin all grossed over $2 million. Despite a bump in its top-priced ticket to a hefty $996, Dolly! profits only saw a small increase from $2.3m to $2.4m, and though Springsteen broke an industry record of highest average ticket price at $508, its weekly gross remained roughly the same at $2.4m.
Twenty-three of the 32 shows grossed over $1 million last week. A few that fell between $1m-$2m broke house records: Come From Away at the Schoenfeld ($1.8m), Waitress at the Brooks Atkinson ($1.4m), and The Band’s Visit at the Barrymore ($1.5m). After running for 21 years and counting, Broadway classic Chicago had its best week ever with $1.26 million.
Sales will likely fall off in the first few months of the year, but a wealth of new shows with previous brand recognition are sure to bring in steady attendance in 2018 including Frozen, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and Mean Girls.
