Accio profits! Tom Felton, the big screen's wizard baddy Draco Malfoy for all eight films of the Harry Potter film franchise, has returned as Draco for the Broadway play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. And no surprise, audiences are into it. Felton joined the cast of the long-running hit last week, which saw a seven-figure increase at the box office that sent its total take to $2.6 million, its highest sum in about a year. Felton's addition to the cast made the production a sell out, which it isn't always. Felton also took the average ticket price to $228.51 between the 11,354 people who caught the show last week, more than double the prior week's average of $106.12.
Too bad most of Felton's fellow Harry Potter film stars have complex relationships with the franchise (and its creator J.K. Rowling) now—or producers would be no doubt looking to continue this trend with more reprisals.
Also worth mentioning: The show gave one less performance last week than it generally does, and one of those performances was a heavily comped gala affair. If these grosses hold as Felton's run continues (he's currently set to star through May 10, 2026), we could see the show reach even higher heights. Even still, last week was a record breaker at the Lyric Theatre for a seven-performance week.
Grosses on the whole over the 34 currently running shows saw a modest decease at the box office, to the tune of just about half-a-million dollars, or 2.6%. But last week was a big start-of-winter high for the Main Stem, so that's nothing to be upset about. Across Broadway, seats were just under 90% full, with theatregoers paying a healthy average of $135.09 per ticket. All told, this season so far remains ahead of the same period from last season's historic take, and by more than 10%—an excellent place to be before we even enter the height of the winter holidays.
And there's lots of encouragement to find within the data. Chess opened November 16, meaning much of last week's performances were heavily comped for critics and press, and yet the show still came in at $1.78 million, the fourth-highest of any show on the boards. Oedipus, which itself opened at Studio 54 November 13, also reached new highs even while comping much of its house, selling out and bringing in $859,978. The Great Gatsby also saw a healthy six-figure increase at the box office last week as it welcomed back its original title star Jeremy Jordan.
Harry Potter's big week put it in the number-two slot of Broadway's top grossers, beaten only by Hamilton, continuing to enjoy a lucrative return from Tony-winning original star Leslie Odom, Jr. as Aaron Burr. The Lin-Manuel Miranda musical took in $3.85 million last week, with the rest of the top five spots filled by Wicked, Chess, and The Lion King.
Suffice it to say, Broadway continues to be in an excellent position as the weather gets colder and we look towards next week's Thanksgiving and the remainder of the winter holidays. Hold on to your hats—and Playbills! We might just have a wild ride ahead.
Take a look at the full report here.
The $1 Million Club (shows that earned $1 million or more at the box office):
- Hamilton ($3.5 million)
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ($2.59 million)
- Wicked ($2.39 million)
- Chess
- The Lion King
- Mamma Mia!
- Waiting for Godot
- Art
- Just in Time
- Death Becomes Her
- Ragtime
- Oh, Mary!
- Maybe Happy Ending
- The Great Gatsby
- MJ The Musical
- The Queen of Versailles
- Buena Vista Social Club
- The Outsiders
(18 of 34 currently running productions)
The 90s Club (shows that played to 90% or higher of their seats filled over the entire week):
- Just in Time (103.44%)
- Hamilton (101.51%)
- Oedipus (100.12%)
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (100%)
- Oh, Mary! (100%)
- Ragtime (100%)
- Wicked (100%)
- Chess
- Waiting for Godot
- Mamma Mia!
- Buena Vista Social Club
- Art
- The Lion King
- Hadestown
- The Outsiders
- Maybe Happy Ending
- Death Becomes Her
- The Great Gatsby
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- Aladdin
- The Queen of Versailles
- The Book of Mormon
- Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)
(23 of 34 currently running productions)
