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INDUSTRY INSIGHT: Weekly Grosses Analysis - 1/4; Broadway's Biggest Week

By: Jan. 04, 2016
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Welcome to this week's edition of our new WEEKLY GROSSES ANALYSIS - read on for all the weekly grosses statistics for the movers and shakers from the latest grosses, for the week ending 1/3/2016.

The Broadway League reports robust holiday attendance and grosses and a strong start to 2016. The week ending January 3, 2016 was the best attended and highest grossing on Broadway in recorded history.

Charlotte St. Martin, President of The Broadway League, said, "The Broadway holiday season kicks off a happy new year!The week ending Saturday, January 3, 2016 was the best attended and highest grossing New Year's week, and the best attended and highest grossing week on Broadway overall to date. Audiences are clearly enjoying the variety of new shows in addition to long-running favorites."

Week 32 (the week ending Sunday, January 3, 2016), was the best attended and highest grossing New Year's week, and the best attended and highest grossing week on Broadway overall to date. The total attendance for the week ending January 3, 2016 was 357,718 (an increase of 20% from prior week) and total gross was $43,065,466 (an increase of 19% from prior week). As of week 32 (week ending Sunday, January 3, 2016), season-to-date attendance is 8,133,116 admissions, and season-to-date gross is $865,725,125.

School of Rock - The Musical kicked off 2016 by besting its own record-breaking week at the Winter Garden Theatre (1634 Broadway). Grossing $1,671,621.59 and with houses at 102.1% capacity (103.8% of gross potential) the week ending January 3, Broadway's new hit musical breaks its own house record set just last week. School of Rock, which had a special nine-performance week over the holiday, surpasses its previously held record set during last week's eight performances while also breakingMamma Mia's! nine-performance-week record set in 2006.

"We could not have ended 2015 on a higher note, and we look forward to 2016 bringing School of Rock to greater audiences on Broadway, in London, and at the hundreds of schools themselves that will be performing the show across America," said Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Finding Neverland, Broadway's enchanting must-see hit musical, soared high into the new year with its best grossing week since beginning performances last March at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater. The week, December 28-January 3, grossed a whopping $1,477,174.50, shattering its previous best week (June 28) by over $255,000.

Producers of The Illusionists - Live on Broadway announced today that the Broadway show grossed $1,801,326.50 for the week ending January 3, 2016, beating the previous house record at The Neil Simon Theatre set by All the Way in 2014.

Disney Theatrical Productions celebrates several 2015 milestones for its hit Broadway productions of The Lion King and Aladdin and the North American touring productions of The Lion King and Newsies.

For the third year in a row, the New York production of The Lion King topped the list of Broadway's highest-grossing shows of the year, having been number one for all but five weeks in 2015.

Aladdin broke the house record at The New Amsterdam Theatre for the week ending January 3rd, 2016 with a gross of $2,398,110.00 on nine performances, surpassing the previous record of $2,095,363.50 set just last week. This marks the eleventh time the show has broken a New Amsterdam Theatre house record since beginning performances in February 2014.

The Broadway production of Aladdin finishes 2015 as the third highest-grossing show of the year. With celebrated productions also running in Tokyo and Hamburg, the show has already welcomed over 1.5 million guests worldwide. Its global footprint expands with upcoming sit-down productions in London, Sydney and additional cities yet to be announced.

In Chicago, The Lion King North American tour set a record for the highest-grossing week in Chicago theatrical history with a gross of $2,356,724.00 on nine performances at The Cadillac Palace Theatre for the week ending January 3rd, 2016. This breaks the previous record set by Disney's Newsies last year when that tour grossed $2,012,723.00 at The Oriental Theatre for nine performances for the week ending January 4th, 2015. The Lion King continues performances in Chicago through Sunday, January 17, 2016 at The Cadillac Palace Theatre.

Playing 32 cities, the North American tour of Newsies welcomed over three quarters of a million people in 2015 alone, and nearly one million since beginning performances in October 2014.

Top 5 by This Week Gross

WICKED $2,940,096
THE LION KING $2,878,505
ALADDIN $2,398,110
THE BOOK OF MORMON $2,024,551
HAMILTON $1,959,785


Bottom 5 by This Week Gross
DAMES AT SEA ($211,207), THE GIN GAME ($349,779), THÉRÈSE RAQUIN ($370,028), SYLVIA ($391,703), HAND TO GOD ($425,669)


Top 5 by This Week Gross vs. Last Week Gross

WICKED $539,176
FINDING NEVERLAND $448,260
THE ILLUSIONISTS - LIVE ON BROADWAY $438,646
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF $386,009
MATILDA $384,161


Bottom 5 by This Week Gross vs. Last Week Gross
THE KING AND I ($-43,100), THE COLOR PURPLE ($-5,417), THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME ($-2,112), JERSEY BOYS ($19,416), KING CHARLES III ($30,845)


Top 5 by Average Ticket Price

THE BOOK OF MORMON $205.62
THE LION KING $189.40
HAMILTON $182.39
WICKED $171.74
ALADDIN $154.30


Bottom 5 by Average Ticket Price
DAMES AT SEA ($51.91), SYLVIA ($56.36), THE GIN GAME ($62.34), THÉRÈSE RAQUIN ($67.87), HAND TO GOD ($72.94)


Top 5 by Gross % of Potential

WICKED 146.83%
HAMILTON 146.8%
THE BOOK OF MORMON 109.81%
THE LION KING 105.94%
LES MISERABLES 105.73%


Bottom 5 by Gross % of Potential
DAMES AT SEA (30.4%), SYLVIA (38.02%), THE GIN GAME (44.99%), THÉRÈSE RAQUIN (50.04%), LORD OF THE DANCE: DANGEROUS GAMES (51.38%)


Top 5 % of Seats Sold of Total Seats

THE BOOK OF MORMON 102.6%
SCHOOL OF ROCK 102.1%
HAMILTON 101.7%
MATILDA 100.5%
ALADDIN 100.0%


Bottom 5 % of Seats Sold of Total Seats
LORD OF THE DANCE: DANGEROUS GAMES (68.9%), CHINA DOLL (71.0%), SYLVIA (72.1%), MISERY (72.3%), THÉRÈSE RAQUIN (76.4%)


Top 5 by Seats Sold This Week vs. Last Week

LORD OF THE DANCE: DANGEROUS GAMES 4068
FINDING NEVERLAND 3432
THE ILLUSIONISTS - LIVE ON BROADWAY 3170
MATILDA 3043
CHICAGO 3001


Bottom 5 by Seats Sold This Week vs. Last Week
THE KING AND I (-476), THE COLOR PURPLE (-44), THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME (-32), HAMILTON (-2),

That's all for this week... Other statistics that you'd like to see? Let us know!






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