Broadway box office records are falling like dominoes this season as a handful of starry plays entice fans to pay sky-high ticket prices to see their favorite movie stars up close and emoting.
“Good Night, and Good Luck,” a new play starring George Clooney, grossed $3.3 million last week, the most money a nonmusical play has ever made during a single week on Broadway, according to data released Tuesday by the Broadway League. And it did so with just a seven-performance week: It is still in previews, and not yet doing Broadway’s typical eight.
It shattered the previous record, which was set just two weeks earlier by a new production of “Othello” starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, which grossed $2.8 million in the week that ended March 9. (Before that, the record had been held by “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” which grossed $2.7 million during a holiday week in late 2023.)
“Othello” still has higher ticket prices — its top seats were being sold on its website for $921, compared to $799 for “Good Night, and Good Luck” — but “Good Night, and Good Luck” is playing in a larger theater, so it is taking in more money overall.
The average ticket price for “Othello” was $303.15 last week — down from previous weeks because of free seats for journalists attending press performances and guests attending opening night. The average price for “Good Night, and Good Luck” was $302.07. But “Good Night, and Good Luck,” which is adapted from the 2005 movie about the broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow, is playing in the 1,545-seat Winter Garden Theater, while “Othello” is in the 1,043-seat Ethel Barrymore.
Broadway’s box office has traditionally been dominated by musicals, which tend to be more popular, to play longer, and to run in larger theaters than plays. The record for the most money made by a Broadway musical was set late last year, when “Wicked” grossed $5 million during a Christmas week when there were nine performances.
But the cost of producing Broadway shows has risen significantly since the pandemic, and almost all new musicals are failing financially, which has led some producers to focus on limited runs of plays with well-known stars in lead roles. The rationale is that celebrities turn plays into events, while limited runs create a sense of urgency, and that those factors combined prompt potential ticket buyers to act.
The results, at least for the moment, are inarguable: “Good Night, and Good Luck” last week outgrossed all other shows, including “Wicked,” “Hamilton” and “The Lion King.” (No worries for those shows, though — they have each grossed billions of dollars over time and are still doing just fine.)
Another starry play revival, “Glengarry Glen Ross,” which features Bill Burr, Kieran Culkin and Bob Odenkirk, is also off to a very strong start, grossing $2.1 million last week, with an average ticket price of $204.40.
One startling comparison? “Good Night, and Good Luck,” which cost up to $9.5 million to capitalize, grossed $3.3 million last week. The top-grossing new musical, “Death Becomes Her,” cost more than three times that to capitalize — up to $31.5 million — and grossed only $1.2 million. And that was more than any other new musical.
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