Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is Performing Well at the Box Office, While Hamilton is Beginning to Slow Down in Comparison
After Excellent Post-Opening Reviews, Harry Potter Soars
Last week, the week ending April 29, 2018, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts One and Two brought in a weekly gross of $1,886,079, which is an increase of $613,943 from the week before. This represents 94.85% of its gross potential. The show had its wildly successful opening night on April 22, 2018, at the tail end of the previous week. Therefore, this increased gross represents a big step back up towards the excellent numbers the show was bringing in in its first week of previews. In the first three weeks, this duo of plays brought in 110.90%, 114.28%, and 115.37% of its gross potential, respectively.
As the press previews started to require the producers to give away a multitude of free tickets, these numbers began to drop. However, this past week demonstrates that the show is on its way back to the top, where, according to the effusive reviews, it certainly belongs. This increase was the biggest of any show this week. My Fair Lady saw an increase of $174,870 to reach a weekly gross of $1,115,499, or 79.9% of its gross potential, Rocktopia saw an increase of $125,334 in its final week to reach a weekly gross of $738,343, or 49.2%, Summer saw a post-opening increase of $92,695 to reach a weekly gross of $1,055,612, and The Band’s Visit saw a slight uptick of $64,117 to reach a weekly gross of $908,565, or 87.5% of its gross potential.
Hamilton, Still a Power Player, Begins to Cool Down
Hamilton, now working its way towards three years on Broadway, is still a gigantic power player. However, as the exciting new spring season comes into focus – bringing with it the mega-shows Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Mean Girls, and Frozen – Hamilton is starting to seem like somewhat old news. This past week, Hamilton saw the biggest decrease of any show on Broadway. It went down by $258,398 to reach a weekly gross of $2,823,279, which represents 107.3% of its gross potential. With a top ticket price of $849, the average paid admission was $262.97, and the audience was filled up to 101.6% of its capacity on average.
Despite this significant dip, the show is still the third highest performer on Broadway, trailing behind only last year’s Tony Award winning Best Musical Dear Evan Hansen, with 118.9% of gross potential, and the indomitable The Lion King, with 109.1%. Mean Girls brought in $1,457,577, or 99.2%, Aladdin brought in $1,412,165, or 98.1%, Come From Away brought in $1,219,106, or 96.7%, Frozen brought in $1,684,280, or 96.3%, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child brought in $1,886,079, or 94.9%. So, even though Harry Potter has a long way to go to outperform Hamilton in terms of weekly gross or gross potential, it is certainly taking a big step up – especially for a play.
