Results tagged “boxoffice”

Broadway is suffering, people! This summer attendance was down 9.3%, compared with the same period a year ago. Even with more expensive tickets, box office grosses were down 2.9%, to just under $290.9 million. So producer Ken Davenport isn't just being a drama queen when he tells Crain's, "We have far fewer butts in seats, and that concerns me. This summer wasn't good, and we're on target for a drop at the end of this season." Davenport produced four shows on Broadway last season but this fall he's only doing one—David Mamet's Oleanna, a two-hander starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles. Other producers are hoping celebs like Daniel Craig, Jude Law, and, ugh, Catherine Zeta-Jones can bring the butts back.

As expected, actor Jeremy Piven's abrupt departure from the Broadway revival of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow is costing the show's investors a mint; they had expected to finally break even just when Piven quit due to "mercury poisoning." The box office take dropped 33% in the wake of his withdrawal, and the money guys are livid. One producer tells the Post, "We were so close to recouping, and then this jerk screwed it up." Even Piven's former cast mate Raul Esparza is lashing out, telling the audience during curtain call last Sunday: "Today was the first time I really enjoyed playing this show. I hope you weren't expecting a big TV star." Meanwhile, actor Fisher Stevens has surfaced to defend Piven, testifying that he suffered from mercury poisoning earlier this year while eating fish four or five times a week during production of documentary The Cove, about the slaughter of mercury-loaded dolphins.

Hollywood is apparently shocked that women can affect box office sales; Variety notes that after Sex and the City opened this weekend to the tune of $55.7 million, it shattered "decades-old thinking that females -- particularly older ones --can’t fuel the sort of big opening often enjoyed by a male-driven event pic or family movie." Way to go ladies?

We never realized exactly what a force Manu Chao was live until experiencing him ourselves at Sasquatch several weeks ago. The man has the power to move people. To incite hysteria and completely dominate his entire audience. It is something any music fan should experience at least once in their life, because there is really nobody else like him performing today. Earlier this week, He did two nights at the Prospect Park Bandshell to a crowd that more resembled a soccer stadium than a rock concert. There was chanting and singing and air horns and flags, but none of that could beat back the rain, which poured down in buckets towards the end of the second night, drenching the fans and creating a lovely mess. Few would argue that after a hot night of dancing, there could have been no perfect release. Check out some more incredible pics (like the one to the left) over at Brooklyn Vegan.

It's quite the red letter week for us bookish types, with the prestigious, sometimes baffling, and oft-maligned National Book Awards dinner and awards ceremony tomorrow night where trophies will be bestowed, granted, totally robbed, whatever, at the Marriott Marquis. To that end, critic A.O. Scott has an interesting article about the contradictions and complications inherent to the awards, Medal Fatigue (registration required). Garrison Keillor is the Master of Ceremonies which, frankly, is why Gothamist wishes we had tickets. If you do have a seat at the Ivory Tower's table, enjoy and report back to us lowly slobs. The odds on the fiction winner have already been calculated by New York Mag, with Gaitskill and Doctorow as the favourites to win. It's just like Belmont, really.

This weekend begins the 42nd New York Film Festival presented by the Film Society at Lincoln Center and it's 17 days of international films, new pictures from old favorites and introductions to unsung artists.

Did you see Fahrenheit 9/11 this weekend? What did you think? Was Michael Moore at your screening? Lux tells us she was handed this flyer when leaving Fahrenheit 9/11; any other goodies handed out?