Week 21 of the 2024-2025 season proved a boon for Broadway’s box office. In a week that encompassed Indigenous People’s Day weekend, the 32 Main Stem offerings earned $34,268,132. This marks a 15.6% jump from the previous week (the week ending Oct. 6) when the same number of shows were running. During the week ending Oct. 13, Broadway welcomed 268,081 admissions, up 5.8% from the week prior. Capacity grew 4%, with 91% of available seats in theaters filled. Additionally, this marks Broadway’s highest-grossing week since June 30 and its best-attended week since June 23.
Compared to this week last season, during which the aforementioned holiday didn’t occur, this week proves even stronger in box office bounty. This week’s $34.3 million ducats is a 25.1% increase from the week ending Oct. 15, 2023, while this week’s 268,000 admissions is up 23.5%. Capacity maintained a smaller margin, an increase of 1.6%.
Historically speaking, these figures are on par with pre-pandemic figures seen during weeks ending with Indigenous People’s Day weekend. This week’s $34.3 million gross is greater than the $33.4 million earned during this week in 2018 (when the same number of shows were playing) and just under the $35.2 million garnered in 2019 (when two additional shows were running). This week’s attendance is also less than that of 2019 but greater than 2018.
During the final week of Tony Award winner Aaron Tveit and Joanna Jojo Levesque’s return engagement in “Moulin Rouge!,” the long-running musical grossed $1,642,967. This marks the production’s highest-grossing week since the week ending Dec. 31, 2023.
For the fourth consecutive week, “Oh, Mary!” has broken its own house record at the Lyceum Theatre, taking in $1,193,593. Meanwhile, over at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 2024 Best Musical Tony winner “The Outsiders” earned $1,502,467, its second-highest-grossing week to date.
Still in previews, the revival of “Romeo + Juliet” grossed in excess of $1 million for the first time. The Sam Gold-helmed production took in $1,036,486 across seven previews, up $86,387 from seven previews in the previous week.
Every production across the board increased in gross, save “McNeal,” which played one fewer performance than the week prior. The Robert Downey Jr. starrer earned $968,282 for five performances. In terms of increases, many productions took in an additional $200,000 or more. “Wicked” had the largest gross increase, taking in an extra $440,313 for a total gross of $2,486,411. However, it should be noted that the musical had an increased capacity this week (1,926 seats per performance compared to 1,807 the week prior). “Harry Potter” (up $306,858 to $1,255,314) had the second-highest gross increase.
The aforementioned “Wicked” was the week’s top-earning show, with “The Lion King” ($2,198,308) in second place and “Hamilton” ($1,965,127) in third.
In addition to the top-three earners and the aforementioned “Harry Potter,” “Moulin Rouge!,” “Oh, Mary!,” “The Outsiders” and “Romeo + Juliet,” six shows grossed over $1 million, including “Aladdin” ($1,353,550), “Cabaret” ($1,054,456), “Hell’s Kitchen” ($1,427,937), “MJ” ($1,472,229) and “The Great Gatsby” ($1,271,486), all of which played eight performances. The revival of “Sunset Boulevard” ($1,291,902) also breached the $1 million threshold, but for seven previews.
Attendance-wise, 28 shows saw an uptick in admissions. Of the shows that played the same number of performances week over week, “Aladdin” (up 1,306 admissions to a total attendance of 13,366) had the largest jump. In a week that encompassed its opening night, the Jim Parson-led revival of “Our Town” (up 1,035 to a total attendance of 7,331) also tallied over 1,000 additional attendances.
“Hamilton” ($189.26) had the week’s highest average paid admission figure, while “Romeo + Juliet” ($180.76) and “The Outsiders” ($179.04) had the second- and third-highest, respectively. Half of the Main Stem’s offerings posted an average paid admission between $100 and $150, while eight had an average admission below $100.
Nineteen shows played to a capacity of 90% or higher, 14 of which were within the 90th percentile: “& Juliet,” “Aladdin,” “Cabaret,” “Hadestown,” “Hamilton,” “Hell’s Kitchen,” “SIX,” “Stereophonic,” “Suffs,” Sunset Boulevard,” “The Book of Mormon,” “The Great Gatsby,” “The Lion King” and “Wicked.” Once again, “McNeal” and “Oh, Mary!” filled every seat of their respective theaters, while “Moulin Rouge!,” “Romeo + Juliet” and “The Outsiders” surpassed 100% capacity due to standing-room attendees.
Season to date, the box office of 2024-2025 remains ahead of 2023-2024. Gross to date is $649,921,987, an 8.7% increase from this time last year. Attendance is up 7.3%, with aggregate admissions totaling 5,263,067. Capacity is 91.3%, up 3.3%.
