Spider-Man Investors Better Be a Patient Lot

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the beleaguered Julie Taymor/Bono/Edge musical about everyone's favorite webslinger, actually looks like it is going to make it to opening night—still set for January 11. So assuming nothing else goes wrong and the $65 million musical opens—how long does it have to run before it makes back its initial investment? The Times crunches the numbers and the rough answer is, oh, about four years. To be fair, that's not including the possibly incredibly lucrative merch (as they call it on their website). But worth noting? The second-most expensive musical of all time, Shrek, cost half as much and only managed to make it a year...

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By Garth Johnston in Arts & Entertainment on December 14, 2010 5:45 PM

Comments [rss]

Mr Mel

Investing in a Broadway Musical is like throwing money into a dumpster. You've a better chance with Mega lottery tickets or scratch off cards.

Andrew Southern

I saw this last Friday, unbelievably terrible. I can't imagine it lasting 4 weeks let alone 4 years. Granted it was a preview, but unless they change all the music, the story, the casting and the directing, this is major fail.

Peter Rosa

Business 101: you cannot neglect the cost side of the equation. Obviously, some people haven't learned.

Knickerbocker

Sounds like Messrs. Bialystock and Bloom are behind this fiasco.

EastRiver

There is a line in "The Producers" where Max explains the you "Never put your own money in a show." When Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick returned to the show for a second run Lane added the line, "That's taboo" referring to the $10 million Rosie O'Donnell lost on the Boy George musical "Taboo".