Broadway Grosses Week Ending 10/04/2026: Box Office Climbs 15% to $27.7 Million as Hamilton Leads and the Fall Season Arrives
Broadway Box Office • Week 40
Broadway’s fall season finally has its foot in the door. For the week ending Sunday, October 4, 2026, the 28 productions on the boards grossed $27,735,569, a 15.12% jump on the previous week’s $24.1 million. Attendance rose 8.22% to 226,390, two new arrivals entered previews, and the average paid ticket climbed more than seven dollars. It is the healthiest weekly total Broadway has posted since the end of August, and a welcome rebound after the slump of late September.
The bigger picture is more complicated. Compared with the same week a year ago, grosses are down 11.75% and attendance is off 3.46%. Broadway is still running a smaller roster than usual while the autumn class of plays and musicals moves into its theatres, and the shows that are running are, on average, charging less than they did in 2025. Here is the full breakdown of the week’s Broadway box office results, the shows that rose and fell, and everything opening and closing over the next six weeks.
| $27.74MTotal Gross▲ 15.12% wk/wk | 226,390Attendance▲ 8.22% wk/wk | $122.51Avg Ticket▲ $7.34 wk/wk | 89.1%Capacity28 shows playing |
The Week at a Glance
The headline numbers tell a story of recovery from a soft prior week. The week ending September 27 had dropped 11% to $24.09 million with just 26 shows running, so a portion of this week’s rise is simply Broadway getting back to normal. But there were genuine engines of growth too: The Imaginary Invalid played its first full week of previews, Billy Crystal’s 860 and the starry revival of Other Desert Cities both joined the count, and almost every long-running musical sold more seats than the week before.
| Metric | W/E Oct 4, 2026 | W/E Sep 27, 2026 | Same Week 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total gross | $27,735,569 | $24,093,388 | $31,428,040 |
| Attendance | 226,390 | 209,194 | ≈234,500 |
| Average ticket | $122.51 | $115.17 | $134.02 |
| Capacity | 89.1% | 87.3% | 90.2% |
| Shows playing | 28 | 26 | — |
Last-year attendance derived from the Broadway League’s reported 3.46% year-over-year decline. Prior-week average ticket derived from this week’s reported $7.34 increase.
Seats were filled at an 89.08% clip overall, with 226,390 of 254,147 available seats sold. That is a respectable figure for early October, though it trails last year’s 90.2% by just over a percentage point.
Top 5 Broadway Grossers This Week
| # | Show | Gross | Avg Ticket |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hamilton | $2,704,838 | $251.78 |
| 2 | Harry Potter and the Cursed Child | $1,671,543 | — |
| 3 | MJ | $1,588,467 | $145.73 |
| 4 | The Lion King | $1,498,471 | $134.99 |
| 5 | Oh, Mary! | $1,216,930 | $182.18 |
Hamilton: still in a league of its own
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical continues to dominate the Broadway box office the way few shows ever have more than a decade into a run. Hamilton grossed $2,704,838, more than a million dollars ahead of its nearest rival, and it was the only show on Broadway to play above 100% capacity (101.4%, thanks to standing room). Its average paid admission of $251.78 is the highest on the street by almost seventy dollars. It is worth pausing on what that means: Hamilton alone accounted for nearly one in every ten dollars spent on Broadway tickets this week.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: the year’s biggest turnaround
The most striking result in this week’s report belongs to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The play earned $1,671,543, up $98,074 on the previous week and a remarkable 77.8% higher than the same week in 2025, when it took $940,384. Attendance rose 2.8 percentage points of capacity as well. Whatever the production has done with its pricing, casting and marketing over the past year, it has worked: the Lyric Theatre tenant is once again a fixture in Broadway’s top tier.
MJ: quietly reliable
MJ took third place with $1,588,467, playing to 98.2% of capacity and adding 467 more patrons than the previous week. Year over year it is up 26.6% from $1,254,629. The Michael Jackson biomusical has become one of the steadiest performers on Broadway, and its $145.73 average ticket places it fourth on the street.
The Lion King: a cancelled matinee costs it
Disney’s flagship slipped to fourth with $1,498,471, down $202,402 on the prior week. The explanation is straightforward: The Lion King cancelled its Saturday, October 3 matinee, playing seven performances instead of eight. That missing show also explains its attendance falling by 1,531, the steepest decline of any production. Adjusted for the lost performance, the Minskoff’s audience held up perfectly well.
Oh, Mary!: Bowen Yang’s era hits a bump
Cole Escola’s comedy rounded out the top five at $1,216,930, but it posted the week’s largest dollar decline, falling $241,332, with capacity dropping 6.5 points and 463 fewer patrons. Context matters here. Saturday Night Live alum Bowen Yang began his run as Mary on September 15, which brought a surge of early demand; a cooling-off a few weeks in is typical of any celebrity stint. Year over year, Oh, Mary! is still up 28.1%, and its $182.18 average ticket is second only to Hamilton. Yang plays the role through January 17, 2027.
Biggest Week-Over-Week Movers
| Biggest Gains ($) | Change | Biggest Drops ($) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Imaginary Invalid | +$169,671 | Oh, Mary! | −$241,332 |
| Just in Time | +$105,311 | The Lion King | −$202,402 |
| Wicked | +$101,295 | Aladdin | −$11,725 |
| Harry Potter and the Cursed Child | +$98,074 | Maybe Happy Ending | −$5,681 |
| Schmigadoon! | +$97,891 | Stranger Things: The First Shadow | −$1,845 |
Perhaps the most encouraging statistic of the week: only five shows lost ground in attendance, and only Oh, Mary! and The Lion King lost significant money. Everything else was flat or up.
Just in Time gained $105,311 and 4.5 points of capacity, and its $146.41 average ticket ranks third on Broadway. There is an obvious reason for the rush: Jeremy Jordan plays his final performance as Bobby Darin at Circle in the Square on October 18, and fans are clearly buying in before he goes. Matthew Morrison returns to the role for a three-week engagement from October 20. Carrie St. Louis also departs as Sandra Dee on October 18, with Whitney Leavitt set to take over from December 1.
Wicked added $101,295 and nearly two points of capacity. The Gershwin juggernaut had a nervy late September, when its gross dipped to just over $1 million and prompted speculation that it might fall below seven figures for the first time since early 2022. It did not, and this week’s rebound puts it back on steadier footing, although its $87.32 average ticket remains among the five lowest on Broadway, a sign that its huge house is being filled with aggressive discounting.
Schmigadoon!, the reigning Tony winner for Best Musical, rose $97,891 and 3.3 points of capacity at the Nederlander. Other healthy gains in attendance came from SIX (up 9.3 points), The Rocky Horror Show (up 9.1 points, with 726 more patrons as Halloween approaches), The Outsiders (up 5 points), and Operation Mincemeat (up 3.7 points).
Year-Over-Year: Who’s Beating 2025?
While the industry as a whole is behind last year, five shows posted especially impressive year-over-year growth:
| Show | This Week | Same Week 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Potter and the Cursed Child | $1,671,543 | $940,384 | +77.8% |
| Chicago | $1,030,366 | $598,968 | +72.0% |
| Oh, Mary! | $1,216,930 | $950,185 | +28.1% |
| MJ | $1,588,467 | $1,254,629 | +26.6% |
| Operation Mincemeat | $719,615 | $633,456 | +13.6% |
Chicago deserves special mention. The Ambassador Theatre’s long-runner crossed the million-dollar mark with $1,030,366, a 72% leap on a year ago, and it played to 97.6% capacity, fifth-best on Broadway. The revival has leaned hard into stunt casting this autumn, and it is paying off at the box office. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders director Kelli Finglass has also been announced to join the company, the latest in a string of headline-grabbing additions.
Why is Broadway down 11.75% on last year?
It is mostly about price, not people. Attendance fell just 3.46% year over year, but the average paid ticket dropped from $134.02 to $122.51, a fall of $11.51. Multiply that difference across this week’s 226,390 patrons and you get roughly $2.6 million of the $3.7 million year-over-year gap. In other words, around 70% of the shortfall comes from lower ticket prices rather than empty seats. The other key factor is timing: several of this autumn’s highest-priced star vehicles, including Other Desert Cities and 860, have only just started previews, while last season’s fall slate was further along at this point.
Ticket Prices: Where the Money Is
The gap between Broadway’s priciest and most affordable shows remains enormous. At the top end:
| Highest Avg Ticket | Price | Lowest Avg Ticket | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton | $251.78 | Stranger Things: The First Shadow | $65.55 |
| Oh, Mary! | $182.18 | School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play | $70.77 |
| Just in Time | $146.41 | The Imaginary Invalid | $74.91 |
| MJ | $145.73 | Aladdin | $79.81 |
| The Lion King | $134.99 | Wicked | $87.32 |
The low end of the chart includes two non-profit productions in their early weeks: Manhattan Theatre Club’s School Girls and Roundabout’s The Imaginary Invalid, where subscriber pricing naturally drags the average down. Stranger Things: The First Shadow is a different case. The Marquis Theatre spectacle has the lowest average ticket on Broadway at $65.55 and played to just 68.3% capacity, figures that reflect a show now in its final months: it is scheduled to close on January 3, 2027.
Capacity: Full Houses and Soft Spots
Five shows played to better than 97% of capacity: Hamilton (101.4%), Hadestown (98.5%), MJ (98.2%), Paranormal Activity (97.7%) and Chicago (97.6%).
The inclusion of Paranormal Activity is notable. The horror play at the August Wilson Theatre, directed by Felix Barrett of Sleep No More fame, has turned out to be precisely the right show at the right time, and with Halloween approaching its near-sellout houses look set to continue. It is a limited run through January 3, 2027.
At the other end of the scale, the five shows with the most empty seats were Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) at 64.7%, Stranger Things at 68.3%, SIX at 68.7%, The Outsiders at 78.2% and Maybe Happy Ending at 79.1%. Three of those five already have closing dates on the calendar, which tells you something about how producers read the numbers.
New in the Count: Previews and Recent Openings
The Imaginary Invalid (Todd Haimes Theatre)
Roundabout’s new adaptation of Molière played its first full week of previews and posted the biggest week-over-week gain on Broadway, adding $169,671 and 2,643 patrons for a gross of $352,824. Tony winner Bill Irwin, who also adapted the text, stars as the hypochondriac Argan alongside Rachel Bloom, Brooks Ashmanskas and Dylan Baker, under the direction of Brandon J. Dirden. It opens October 22 and closes November 22.
Other Desert Cities (Hudson Theatre)
The most star-packed play of the autumn began previews on September 29. Julia Louis-Dreyfus makes her Broadway debut opposite Ed Harris, with Allison Janney, Lily Rabe and Joe Keery completing an extraordinary ensemble in Jon Robin Baitz’s family drama, directed by John Benjamin Hickey. Expect it to vault into the upper half of the grosses chart as it moves through a full week of performances. It opens October 18 and plays through January 17, 2027.
860 (Imperial Theatre)
Billy Crystal returned to Broadway on October 1 with 860, a new solo show named after the street number of the Pacific Palisades home he lost in the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. Directed by Scott Ellis, it continues the tradition of Crystal’s Tony-winning 700 Sundays. Previews run to an October 21 opening, with a limited 14-week engagement through January 3, 2027.
School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre)
Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy officially opened on September 28 and grossed $351,072, the lowest figure on Broadway this week, though as a Manhattan Theatre Club subscription production its economics are very different from a commercial show. Attendance ticked up 2.8 points. The cast, led by Denée Benton, Patina Miller and Jasmine Amy Rogers, has already earned the production a two-week extension: it now runs through November 15.
Broadway Shows Closing in the Next Six Weeks
The closing calendar through mid-November is relatively light, but several limited runs and one well-loved musical are counting down. If any of these are on your list, now is the time to book.
| Date | Show / Event | Theatre |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 18 | Jeremy Jordan & Carrie St. Louis leave Just in Time | Circle in the Square |
| Nov 15 | School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play closes | Samuel J. Friedman |
| Nov 22 | The Imaginary Invalid closes | Todd Haimes |
| Nov 29 | Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) closes | Longacre |
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) falls just outside the six-week window but deserves a flag. The two-hander musical, which earned eight Tony nominations this year, will have played 21 previews and 428 performances when it closes on November 29. A national tour launches from Providence, Rhode Island next year. This week it grossed $503,692 at 64.7% capacity.
The January 3 cliff
Looking slightly further ahead, January 3, 2027 is shaping up as one of the biggest single closing dates in recent memory. & Juliet (after more than 1,700 performances and over $175 million in grosses), SIX (2,178 performances), Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Paranormal Activity and Billy Crystal’s 860 all play their final performances that day. Expect strong holiday grosses as fans make last visits, followed by a sharp contraction in the number of running shows in January.
Broadway Openings in the Next Six Weeks
This is where the season truly ignites. Between now and mid-November, twelve productions are scheduled to open. Opening dates below follow the Broadway League’s official calendar.
| Opens | Show | Theatre | Runs Through |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 18 | Other Desert Cities | Hudson | Jan 17, 2027 |
| Oct 21 | 860 | Imperial | Jan 3, 2027 |
| Oct 22 | The Imaginary Invalid | Todd Haimes | Nov 22, 2026 |
| Oct 29 | A Few Good Men | Vivian Beaumont | Jan 10, 2027 |
| Nov 8 | Wanted | James Earl Jones | Open-ended |
| Nov 9 | Here There Are Blueberries | Ethel Barrymore | Jan 10, 2027 |
| Nov 11 | Now You See Me Live | Al Hirschfeld | Jan 3, 2027 |
| Nov 15 | Downstate | Booth | Jan 10, 2027 |
| Nov 16 | The Fantasticks | Hayes | Feb 7, 2027 |
| Nov 17 | Blue Man Group: A New Holiday Surprise | Lunt-Fontanne | Jan 3, 2027 |
| Nov 18 | It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play | Broadhurst | Jan 3, 2027 |
| Nov 19 | Much Ado About Nothing | Winter Garden | Jan 10, 2027 |
A Few Good Men (Lincoln Center Theater)
Aaron Sorkin’s courtroom drama receives its first Broadway revival, directed by Tony winner Michael Arden (Maybe Happy Ending, Parade). Bradley Whitford plays Colonel Nathan Jessep and Tom Blyth makes his Broadway debut as Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee. Previews began October 8 for a 13-week run.
Wanted (James Earl Jones Theatre)
The season’s first new commercial musical stars Solea Pfeiffer and Liisi LaFontaine as Mary and Martha Clarke, twin sisters passing as white in 1893 Texas. Book and lyrics are by Angelica Chéri, herself a descendant of the real Clarke sisters, with music by Ross Baum and direction by Stevie Walker-Webb. Previews begin October 15. As an open-ended musical, Wanted will be one of the most closely watched sets of numbers in the weeks ahead.
Here There Are Blueberries (Ethel Barrymore Theatre)
Moisés Kaufman and Tectonic Theater Project bring their Pulitzer-finalist documentary drama to Broadway, tracing the discovery of an album of Nazi-era photographs and the reckoning it set off. Previews start November 2 for a 10-week engagement.
Downstate (Booth Theatre)
Bruce Norris’s provocative drama about four men living under post-prison restrictions in a downstate Illinois group home is directed by Joe Mantello. K. Todd Freeman, Francis Guinan and Liza Colón-Zayas lead the cast. Previews begin October 17.
The Fantasticks (Hayes Theater)
The world’s longest-running musical finally arrives on Broadway, 66 years after its Off-Broadway premiere, in a reimagined production with revisions by Tom Jones, directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli. Previews begin October 22 for a 15-week run.
Much Ado About Nothing (Winter Garden Theatre)
Arguably the hottest ticket of the autumn: Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell reprise their Benedick and Beatrice in Jamie Lloyd’s acclaimed London staging, a strict 10-week transfer. Previews begin October 31. Given Lloyd’s recent Broadway track record with Sunset Boulevard, this could post some of the biggest straight-play grosses of the season.
Holiday arrivals
Three seasonal attractions join the line-up in mid-November. Now You See Me Live, a stage spin-off of the heist-and-illusion film franchise, opens at the Al Hirschfeld on November 11. Blue Man Group brings A New Holiday Surprise to the Lunt-Fontanne from November 17. And It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play opens at the Broadhurst on November 18 with an all-star company including Andrew Rannells, Megan Hilty and Tituss Burgess. All three are limited runs ending January 3.
Coming into previews
Two more major productions start previews on November 10. Rosamund Pike makes her Broadway debut in Suzie Miller’s legal drama Inter Alia at the Music Box (opening December 1), and Raúl Esparza returns to Broadway for the first time since 2012 in the new musical Galileo at the Shubert (opening December 6), directed by Michael Mayer with a book by Danny Strong.
What to Watch Next Week
- Other Desert Cities and 860 at full strength. With both star vehicles playing complete weeks, Broadway’s total gross should rise again. Both are premium-priced, star-led limited runs, so their first complete weeks should give the total a meaningful lift.
- Jeremy Jordan’s final stretch. Just in Time enters its last full week with its leading man, and a further bump at Circle in the Square is likely.
- The Lion King’s recovery. With a full eight-performance week restored, expect the Minskoff tenant to reclaim most of the $202,000 it lost.
- The show count. A Few Good Men began previews October 8 and Wanted on October 15, so the number of productions should climb to 30 or more over the next fortnight, narrowing the year-over-year gap.
- Halloween titles. Paranormal Activity and The Rocky Horror Show are in their peak season; both should keep building through month’s end.
The Bottom Line
The week ending October 4, 2026 was the week Broadway’s autumn turned a corner. Grosses rose 15% to $27.7 million, almost every long-running show added patrons, and a remarkable run of star-driven plays started filling houses. The year-over-year comparison remains negative, but the cause is clear and temporary: a thinner roster and softer average pricing while the new season is still loading in. With twelve openings scheduled between now and November 19, including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Billy Crystal, Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell, the conditions are in place for a strong run into the lucrative holiday weeks.
For now, Hamilton remains king, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the comeback story of the year, and Chicago is proving that a revival nearing its 30th anniversary can still find new audiences. Theatregold will be back next week with full results for the week ending October 11.
Sources: Box office figures are from The Broadway League as reported by BroadwayWorld (week ending October 4 and September 27, 2026). Opening and closing dates are from the Broadway League’s Opening Night Calendar, Playbill’s Last Chance closing schedule (updated October 5, 2026), NYC Tourism + Conventions and Broadway.com. Dates are subject to change; check with box offices before booking.
