The encyclopedia · Finance & Accounting · Financial decision · 2010–2014
Spider-Man cost $75M to put on Broadway — it lost $60M
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the $75M Bono-and-Taymor musical, opened after a record 182 previews and closed on 4 January 2014 having lost about $60M.
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark · 2014-01
What happened
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark opened for previews on 28 November 2010 as the most expensive production in Broadway history: $75 million capitalised, music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge, direction by Julie Taymor, and a script of flying stunts over the Foxwoods Theatre audience. The day after the first preview it sold over $1 million of tickets; its first full week of 2011 grossed $1,588,514, the highest on Broadway that week.
The preview period became the longest in Broadway history — 182 performances — while the show kept closing to fix itself. Six people were injured, including Natalie Mendoza, concussed in the first preview, and stunt performer Christopher Tierney, who fell 21 feet into the orchestra pit when his safety harness was not connected. OSHA fined the production $12,600 in March 2011 for three serious safety violations; Taymor was replaced that month, and the show finally opened on 14 June 2011.
For a while the disaster itself sold tickets: the week ending 1 January 2012 grossed $2,941,790, then the highest single week in Broadway history. But the show cost $1.3 million a week to run. Sales fell to $621,960 by the last week of September 2013, the production could not secure injury insurance, and it closed on 4 January 2014 after three years — investors losing roughly $60 million of the $75 million.
Why it happened
- A $75M production with $1.3M weekly running costs needed a sustained hit; curiosity could not hold it.
- Six injuries and safety citations wrecked the show's reputation — and its insurability.
- The spectacle's novelty faded: weekly grosses fell more than three-quarters from the record.
The lesson
Broadway's most expensive show turned its own disaster into a spectacle — a record $2.9M week — and still lost $60M: $1.3M of weekly costs needs a hit, not a curiosity.
Aftermath
Several injured cast members filed lawsuits; the show closed on 4 January 2014 and never recouped.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge, book by Julie Taymor, Glen Berger and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa; $75 million production budget, most expensive Broadway production in history; previews from 28 November 2010, official opening 14 June 2011; record 182 previews; weekly running costs $1.3 million; six people injured — Natalie Mendoza concussed in first preview, Christopher Tierney fell 21 feet into orchestra pit 20 December 2010, Kevin Aubin broke both wrists; OSHA fine $12,600 in March 2011 for three serious violations; Taymor replaced March 2011; record single-week gross $2,941,790 week ending 1 January 2012; sales fell to $621,960 by last week of September 2013; closure 4 January 2014; reported $60 million investor loss; closure attributed to falling ticket sales and inability to secure injury insurance)
- NPR, 1 January 2014 — After three years, six injuries, $75 million, 'Spiderman' musical ends (production cost $75 million, most expensive musical in Broadway history; six actors injured including Chris Tierney falling 30 feet off a ramp; ran three years; huge operating costs and declining ticket sales; lawsuits filed by injured actors; technical failures including a non-functional web for the finale days before first preview; ended its run the week of 1 January 2014)
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