The Scarlett Johansson-led revival of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” is off to a strong start on Broadway, grossing $843,215 for its first seven preview performances last week – more money than any of the last three Broadway revivals of the play made in a single week, even after adjusting for inflation. Those revivals starred Anika Noni Rose (in 2008), Ashley Judd (2003) and Kathleen Turner (1990) in the role of Maggie, which Ms. Johansson is playing in the new production, whose box-office sales have benefited from the advent of premium ticket pricing of up to $175 a seat last week.
The production of “Cat,” along with the Broadway revival of “Glengarry Glen Ross” (starring Al Pacino), were the highest-earning plays in a pre-Christmas week that is almost always dominated by musicals.
According to box-office data released on Wednesday by the Broadway League, a trade association of theater owners and producers, the Disney musical “The Lion King” set a box-office record at the Minskoff Theater for an eight performance-week, grossing $2,129,609. “Wicked” was a close second with $2.1 million, followed by “The Book of Mormon” at $1.68 million. The musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” showed softening at the box office, grossing $1.47 million (compared to $1.76 million for the same week last December). And ticket sales for the revival of “Evita” weakened further as its run nears an end next month, grossing $774,870 last week, about $35,000 less than the previous week.
A new holiday show, “A Christmas Story,” continued to sell well, grossing $1.49 million and setting a record at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater for a nine-performance week; most other musicals held the standard eight performances.
Several plays featuring well-known actors have been selling modestly or poorly this fall, and that trend persisted last week in spite of the tourist surge in New York City.
“Dead Accounts,” a dark family comedy starring Katie Holmes and two-time Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz, took in $243,154 (or only 25 percent of its maximum possible gross). “Grace,” with Paul Rudd and Michael Shannon, grossed $284,889 (or 31 percent of the maximum possible amount). Also struggling at the box office were two plays that, like “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” are still in preview performances and have yet to be reviewed: “Picnic,” starring Maggie Grace and Ellen Burstyn, had the lowest gross of the week with $149,300, followed by “The Other Place” (starring Laurie Metcalf) with $149,652.
Over all, Broadway musicals and plays grossed $25.85 million last week, compared to $23.5 million the previous week and $23.3 million for the same week last year.