Sales of Frozen and Mean Girls took a hit last week as schools reopened and Broadway contended with oppressive heat and competition from the latter rounds of the U.S. Open tennis championships in Queens.
Disney’s Frozen fell 16 percent to $1.6 million, the lowest since the adaptation of the 2013 animated movie opened in March. Mean Girls, produced by Lorne Michaels and the late Stuart Thompson and based on the Tina Fey movie, dropped 21 percent to $1.2 million, its weakest seven days since opening in April.
Although both female empowerment musicals got mixed reviews and no Tony Awards, they still appear to be earning operating profits every week.
Even The Book of Mormon fell 7 percent to $1.1 million, its lowest since February, according to figures released by the trade association the Broadway League. (The blockbuster celebrates its eighth birthday on Broadway in March.) And Head Over Heels, with music by the Go-Gos, dropped 16 percent to $216,000, its worst result since previews started in June. Capitalized at $11.6 million to $14.5 million, according to a filing with the state, it surely is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a week.
Last season’s best musical Tony winner, The Band’s Visit, fell 15 percent to $795,000, its lowest since March. It announced this morning that it recouped its $8.75 million capitalization.
Just six of Broadway’s 31 shows had gains last week, including the play Straight White Men, up $1,000 to $382,000 as it closed out its its run at Second Stage’s Hayes (formerly Helen Hayes) Theater; and the SRO Springsteen on Broadway, up $3,000 to $1.9 million.
