‘The Lion King,’ ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ Set New Broadway Box Office Records

Caitlin Huston
·2 min read

The Lion King and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child both set records across the holiday week, with the highest weekly grosses for a musical and play on Broadway, respectively, in history.

In the week ended Dec. 31, the long-running hit The Lion King grossed $4.316 million across nine performances, besting its own record of $4.315 million last year. This is the highest weekly gross across a nine-performance week, though Hamilton still holds the highest gross for an eight-week show, bringing in $4.04 million during the holiday week in 2018.

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which opened on Broadway in 2018, brought in $2.72 million across eight performances, above last year’s record of $2.67 million over the holiday week. The play, which previously was split into two parts, but has run in one part since November 2021, was named by the Guinness World Records as the highest-grossing non-musical play in Broadway history with more than $330 million total sales and more than 2.583 million tickets sold.

The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is typically the highest grossing week on Broadway thanks to holiday crowds and productions raising ticket prices to match the demand. Many shows play nine performances rather than the typical eight, which also contributes to higher weekly grosses.

This season’s holiday week, which ran from Dec. 25 through Dec. 31, was down 12.5 percent in grosses compared to the previous year. However, there were fewer productions running (with 27 compared to 33 in the previous year) and the comparable week last year did not include Christmas Day.

The average ticket price was $176.88, up $10 from last season, with the highest average ticket prices of $286 at The Lion King and $258 at Merrily We Roll Along, which grossed $1.99 million. The average ticket price at Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was $211.74.

Overall, this season’s grosses are down 2.6 percent from the previous season and attendance is largely flat. Still, many shows reached new high-water marks, including Wicked, which reached a record high for the production of $4 million for nine performances.

Several other musicals also bested their own box office records, including Aladdin, which set its 17th house record with $2.98 million across nine performances and the Michael Jackson musical MJ, which broke the house box office record for the 11th time with $2.61 million across nine performances. &Juliet, a pop-scored reimagination of Romeo and Juliet, grossed $1.78 million across nine performances, Six, about the wives of Henry VIII, grossed $1.66 million across nine performances.

Gutenberg! The Musical!, starring Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells, also set a new box office record at the James Earl Jones Theatre, with $1.28 million across eight performances.

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