Meanwhile, 'The Lion King' posts the biggest haul for year 2013 with an estimated $96.9 million in ticket sales.
- Dec 31, 2013
AceShowbiz - It was a record-breaking holiday week on Broadway. "Wicked", a 10-year-old musical which tells the backstory of the witches in "The Wizard of Oz", becomes the first show to break $3 million barrier in a single week. It grossed an estimated $3.2 million over nine performances for the week ending Sunday, December 29.
"The Book of Mormon" smashed house record at the Eugene O'Neill for the 49th time with a weekly tally of $2.1 million, "Chicago" broke the sales record at the Ambassador Theater with a gross of over $1 million, and 2013's Tony winner "Kinky Boots" shattered the Al Hirschfeld Theatre record by pulling in $2.2 million.
Another big hit is "The Lion King" which shattered the house record at the Minskoff Theatre with a weekly gross of $2.8 million. It additionally becomes the highest-grossing show of the year on Broadway with $96.9 million. On top of that, it crossed a major milestone as the first Broadway play to earn $1 billion this year.
"The Lion King" is the fourth longest-running show on Broadway, behind "Chicago", "Cats", and "The Phantom of the Opera". Last year, it snatched the title of Broadway's all-time biggest-earner from "The Phantom of the Opera".
"Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" is the fifth Broadway show which sailed past the $2M mark in this year's holiday week. Though failing to match its weekly high of $2.9M at the end of 2011, it still managed to gross a hefty $2.1 million ahead of its January 4 closing. It's the most expensive show in Broadway history, with a reported budget of $75 million.
