George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck became the first play to gross $4 million in a single week, but for most A-list stars the Great White Way isn’t paved with gold.
Good Night and Good Fortune: George Clooney's Tony-nominated Broadway debut recouped its $9.5 million investment in less than two months.became the first play to gross $4 million in a single week, but for most A-list stars the Great White Way isn’t paved with gold.
—the show he cowrote, produced and stars in—is nominated for five Tony Awards at this Sunday’s ceremony, including Clooney for Best Actor, and has broken weekly box office records as the highest-grossing non-musical play in history. Its penultimate performance on Saturday will be broadcast live on CNN and HBO Max, a first for a Broadway show. Through 12 weeks of its 13-week run, the stage adaptation of the showdown between journalist Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy has grossed more on Broadway than its source material. The 2005 film of the same name cowritten and directed by Clooney, earned just $32 million at the domestic box office despite earning six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Director.estimates the 64-year-old Clooney will earn $6 million in salary and gross royalties for his numerous roles in the show, more than any other theater performer over that span, but a fraction of whatestimates Apple paid Clooney and his co-star Brad Pitt $30 million each. Whether it’s the purity or the prestige of acting on stage—"Movies will make you famous, television will make you rich, but theatre will make you good," the Broadway stalwart Terrence Mann famously quipped—A-list stars like Clooney have become a vital of the Broadway ecosystem.. And the 2024 theater season included Robert Downey Jr., Rachel McAdams, Steve Carrell, Eddie Redmayne and Jeremy Strong, all leading non-musical plays that ran 10-16 weeks with a hard closing date to accommodate the actors’ busy schedules. While Hollywood stars have made appearances on Broadway for decades, in recent years, producers and investors have been increasingly eager to stage these short-run, star-driven productions, which considerably lower their financial risk. A play typically requires a $6 to $9 million investment to get to opening night, compared to $20-25 million for new musicals, according toestimates. Weekly operating costs run in the $400,000-$600,000 range for plays versus $800,000-$900,000 for musicals. “Your likelihood of losing all your money is near zero, because of the projections of sales based on that actor," says Jason Turchin, a Tony-winning producer and founder of the Broadway Investors Club. “You may not make multiples back but you should get a healthy return.”made their money back in nine weeks. Reputation, Reputation, Reputation: Stars such as Othello's Jake Gyllenhaal and Denzel Washington can sell out limited-edition runs on Broadway and then return to the more lucrative world of movies.While the upside of these shows is capped by the limited run, investors can expect to make 10-30% return on their capital, Turchin says. Considering only about a quarter of all Broadway shows fully pay back their investors, or less, it’s the kind of safe bet he believes producers will lean into even more in future years. A-list stars meanwhile, some of whom are paid upwards of $20 million per movie, are typically given a minimum weekly salary—around $100,000 per week for the highest-level talent—as an advance against a percentage of the show’s net gross, after expenses such as credit card fees and theater restoration charges are deducted from the raw receipts. An actor’s gross royalty points are highly variable, but the top end can reach 10%. Other significant members of a show, such as the writers, producers, and directors, are either paid royalties from a small percentage of the gross or a larger percentage of a show’s profits after recoupment. For ongoing shows, almost all have moved toward paying out of the profits to mitigate risk, but for sure-thing star vehicles—say, Hugh Jackman’s year-long run in the 2022 revival ofdeal would include net gross points for starring, cowriting, producing and owning the underlying IP, adding up to his impressive total. Until this year, a Broadway actor’s gross percentage only modestly exceeded the weekly minimums. Most hits gross just over $1 million per week, and over the run of a show, a star performer could expect to earn between $1-3 million. But if you’re the type of actor who has made a fortune playing a superhero , selling a tequila company or being one of the most bankable box office draws of the last 30 years , the money matters less. What’s changed in the 2025 season is that producers are realizing just how far they can push the ticket pricing with a bankable star, particularly for the most expensive seats. Average ticket prices forhover between $250-$400, and premium seats have routinely sold in the $700-$900 range, more than double the cost of top tickets to last year’s star-driven plays or long-running hits likeOf the shows that started their runs in March, they account for three of the top four highest-grossers on Broadway, withaveraging more than $3 million per week, and Clooney’s show cracking the previously untouchable $4 million threshold for non-musicals on three occasions. For deep-pocketed theatergoers, the appeal of seeing a movie star perform live has proven immune to traditional hurdles for other shows, such as negative reviews. According to Broadway review aggregator Did They Like It?,logged two positive reviews, 15 mixed reviews and three negative, and was completely shut out at the Tony Awards. Yet ticket sales remain robust.—his Broadway debut—was one of the worst reviewed shows of the season and grossed $14 million across its 12-week run.—which received 17 positive reviews, three mixed and one negative, plus seven Tony nominations, but averages less than $500,000 in weekly grosses, and one can quickly see the disconnect. "It does seem that theatergoers want to see Hollywood celebrities, in the same space at the same time. They crave that experience,” says one major Broadway dealmaker. “And for the star? A standing ovation from a thousand people every night doesn’t hurt the ego.”
Hollywood Actors On Broadway George Clooney Broadway Hugh Jackman Broadway Denzel Washington Broadway 2025 Tony Awards George Clooney Tony Awards
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Broadway Box Office: ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’ Becomes First Play to Surpass $4MThe play, starring George Clooney, received five Tony Award nominations.
Read more »
Charlie Cox Jokingly Told Jamie Dornan He’s “Too Good-Looking” For Hollywood Early in CareerThe two actors were part of a pre-fame friend group, which also included Eddie Redmayne, Andrew Garfield and Robert Pattinson.
Read more »
Hollywood Stars Celebrate Mother's DayIt's Mother's Day, and if one group of people that know how to give it up for their Mama Bears -- it's Hollywood's rich and famous.
Read more »
Kathie Lee Gifford reveals why stars are fleeing Hollywood for rural AmericaKathie Lee Gifford shares insights on stars leaving Hollywood for simpler lives, her French-inspired Tennessee farm and her role at QVC's TikTok event.
Read more »
George Clooney Reveals Why He Hates His Good Night, And Good Luck Hairstyle'It really looks bad. It looks like you're going through some horrible midlife crisis,' George Clooney said of his hairstyle.
Read more »
First 'Wicked: For Good' Trailer Proves No Good Deed Goes UnpunishedElphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) are chased by flying monkeys in &39;Wicked&39;
Read more »