CHAPTER 10 (Producing and Investing); CHAPTER 11 (Unique Financials); CHAPTER 22 (Theatre Owners)
MOVING THEATRES. STOP CLAUSES.
The Shubert Organization that owns the Winter Garden Theatre that currently houses “Beetlejuice” invoked a stop clause, in which theater owners can force a show to vacate a theater if it falls below a certain grosses threshold for two consecutive weeks
“Beetlejuice” originally opened to weak ticket sales and fell below its stop clause last June and then received formal notice on Oct. 1 that the show would need to move out in June 2020. At issue was an incoming production, “The Music Man,” which has been reportedly booked into the theater for its run next year.
One possibility was to have “The Music Man” take over the Shubert Theatre where “To Kill a Mockingbird,” resides, and move it to another theater of suitable size. But that option has not panned out. “Beetlejuice” producers have also looked at moving their own show to another theater, but Luftig said that a move for the large and highly technical set would cost close to $4 million, which would weigh on the production’s investors.
The problem with moving ‘Beetlejuice’ is that it was built and retrofit for the Winter Garden Theatre.
And both options are hurt by the lack of overall theater availability on Broadway.
Overall, grosses for “Beetlejuice” have recently been on an uptick, regularly surpassing $1 million, with its gross potential hovering between 80% to 90%. In the first week of December, the musical broke a box office record at the Winter Garden.
That’s a marked change from grosses early in its run, which began on March 28, when the musical was seeing between 50% to 60% of its gross potential.
The musical was capitalized for up to $21 million, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
CHAPTER 10 (Producing and Investing)
According to figures provided by the Broadway League, the industry grossed a total of $1.757 billion in 2019. That’s $67 million under 2018’s record, a difference of about 3.7%. However, it was also the best-attended year in Broadway history, with 90.51% of its seats filled.
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