Broadway Grosses: Records Smashed in Multimillion-Dollar Holiday Week

When Broadway’s top two shows combine to rake in a record-breaking total of more than $4 million in a single week, it must mean holiday time on the Great White Way. And when 15 additional shows ring up $1 million-plus in sales—including a whopping $1.88 million for Spider-Man in its first eight-performance week and a record-shattering $1.39 mil for Broadway’s longest-running show, The Phantom of the Opera—it’s definitely time to pop the cork on a bottle of bubbly. Of course, the new year brings a big crop of closings, as well: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; Brief Encounter; Elf; Fela!; Promises, Promises; The Pee-wee Herman Show; West Side Story and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown played their final performances on Broadway. But consider this as a merely a brief lull before 20 new titles make their Main Stem bow.

Here is a look at who was on top and who was not for the week ending January 2:

FRONTRUNNERS (By Gross)
1. Wicked ($2,228,235)
2. The Lion King ($1,993,520)
3. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark ($1,880,833)*
4. Billy Elliot ($1,518,486)**
5. Mary Poppins ($1,492,701)

UNDERDOGS (By Gross)
5. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown ($377,877)
4. La Bete ($308,549)**
3. Colin Quinn: Long Story Short ($261,451)
2. A Free Man of Color ($236,459)
1. The Importance of Being Earnest ($235,694)*

FRONTRUNNERS (By Capacity)
1. The Merchant of Venice (102.50%)***
2. Fela! (102.41%)**
3. Jersey Boys (100.21%)
4. The Lion King (100.4%)
5. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (100.02%)*

UNDERDOGS (By Capacity)
5. The Importance of Being Earnest (70.05%)*
4. Million Dollar Quartet (67.72%)
3. Time Stands Still (67.61%)**
2. A Free Man of Color (53.45%)
1. La Bete (49.46%)**

*Number based on eight preview performances.
**Number based on nine regular performances.
***Number based on seven regular performances.
Data provided by the Broadway League.