Does Declining “Cursed Child” Revenue Speak to the State of the Fandom?
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has broken several records over the course of its run so far, but has it begun to overstay its welcome?
Cursed Child has made more money on Broadway than any play ever has, and it has run as a two-part production for more than a single season, which has never been done before. One year ago, it grossed nearly two million dollars a week.
However, despite the play’s ever-expanding geographical reach, the production has had to stretch in order to sell out every night, at least in New York, according to Forbes. Though Cursed Child claims to be making 101% of its possible revenue every week, the truth is that the play has been selling tickets at lower prices than it was previously. That means that, instead of bringing in two million dollars a week like it was in 2018, Cursed Child now only grosses just over one million dollars a week.
Such a sharp decline in ticket prices (slashed from $154.44 to $78.45 in one year) potentially speaks to a larger trend within the larger wizarding world fandom. The mobile game Harry Potter: Wizards Unite has made less money than it was expected to, far less than Niantic’s Pokémon Go did in its first month. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was not received well by many, though monetarily, it performed decently.
While many fans love these new additions to the universe, it could be that the Wizarding World franchise as a whole is beginning to lose steam. Cursed Child in particular opened to highly polarized reviews. Now that more fans have had a chance to see the performance in person, perhaps the play’s popularity has a time limit.
Here at MuggleNet, we know that the fandom is alive and well, and we’re as excited about it as ever. However, there is no denying that there have been mixed feelings among die-hard fans toward recent additions to the franchise like Cursed Child, the two new mobile games, and the Fantastic Beasts film series.
What are your thoughts on Cursed Child?
