London Theatre Scored Record Breaking Box Office in 2008

Variety reports the good news that despite the continuing sharp economic downturn in the final quarter, London theater had a record-breaking year in 2008, with attendance for the year totaling 13,807,286, up 1% on the previous record set in 2007. Box office revenue hit £480,563,674 ($658 million), a 3% rise on the 2007 high.

Released Sunday by the Society of London Theaters (SOLT), the figures are particularly impressive given both the financial crisis and the fact that 2007 totals already had leaped an unprecedented 10% to a peak many commentators had considered unbeatable explains Variety.

The strong annual result came as a surprise even to SOLT officials reports Variety.

"We had a fantastic first six months but then a relative cooling of demand that coincided with the growing economic malaise," commented SOLT commercial manager Paul James to the paper. "By the end of November, we'd seen a reduction of between 1% and 2%. What surprised us was the strength of the holiday period, which rose upwards of 10% on Christmas and New Year's last year."

To the read the entire Variety article click here.