|
 Rick Miramontez, a spokesman for the show, said in a statement
late Monday that "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" will end its run in
January and will next appear in Vegas. "Further details will be
announced in the weeks to come," he said.
The show's box office take — once putting it among Broadway's
biggest earners — sprung a leak this summer and never recovered. It
last broke the $1 million mark in mid-August and has limped through
a dismal fall. Producers had said it needed to make $1.2 million a
week just to break even.
Last week the show took in just $742,595, less than half its
$1,543,508 potential despite a Foxwoods Theatre that was
three-quarters full. The musical, with songs by U2's Bono and The
Edge, is now routinely discounting tickets and a move to a smaller
venue doesn't make financial sense.
The lease to the massive Foxwoods changed hands in May from Live
Nation Entertainment to the Ambassador Theatre Group for about $60
million. The new owner may end up with a new tenant: A musical of
"King Kong" that's currently in Australia.
"Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" was Broadway's most expensive show
with a price tag of $75 million and had a rocky start, with six
delays in its opening night, injuries to several actors, a shake-up
that led to the firing of original director Julie Taymor and
critical drubbing.
It began previews in late 2010 but finally officially opened in
mid-June 2011, long after many critics had already tired of the
delays and written crushing reviews. Its number of performances
recently crossed the 1,000 mark.
[to top of second column] |
A future home for the show has swirled for months as its earnings
dipped. A touring version had been initially discussed but a
permanent home always seemed a better fit for a show that has loads
of aerial acrobatics, high tech sets and digital projections.
One thing that has stood in the way of a move away from Broadway was
the legal uncertainty that clouded its future. Taymor, the original
"Spider-Man" director and co-book writer, was fired in 2011 after
years of delays, accidents and critical backlash.
Taymor slapped the producers, led by Michael Cohl and Jeremiah J.
Harris, as well as Glen Berger, her former co-book writer, with a
federal copyright infringement lawsuit, alleging they violated her
creative rights and hadn't compensated her for the work she put into
the show. The producers' filed a counterclaim asserting the
copyright claims were baseless. A settlement was announced in April.
The show may not have made a profit but it left one box office
milestone behind. In January 2012, the comic book musical took in a
whopping $2,941,790 over nine performances, which is the highest
single-week gross of any show in Broadway history.
[Associated
Press; MARK KENNEDY]
Follow Mark Kennedy on
Twitter at
http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits.
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
