Spiderman musical budget at $40 mil
October 13, 2008
Someone’s budget-sense is tingling
According to recent reports the Spiderman Musical budget looks to be the biggest in theater history. The New York Post is reporting that the musical will have a budget of nearly $40 million, making it by far the most expensive musical ever. Executives are hopeful the budget can be lowered to closer to $35 million. Part of the cost is for day to day operations. The Post stated the production would cost about $1 million a week to operate. According to the Post’s number crunchers the show would need to run for about 8,000 years to be profitable.
But where does the rest of the money go? Apparently the lions share is going to designers of all shapes and sizes. Apparently bringing Spidey’s web antics to the stage is no cheaper than it was for Hollywood. You have the normal set and costume designers to pay, but this musical will also use a number of types of designers most shows just don’t see. There will have to be fight designers, designers to figure out how to make Spiderman web sling, designers to place the Green Goblins flying contraption in the air. . . who knows just what Julie Taymor has in mind for the musical. But if you are the type that assumes more money is always better, then this show could be bigger than Jesus and the Beatles combined.
Speaking of music, some of the money will presumably go to U2’s Bono and the Edge, which have been chosen to write music to accompany the show.
Concrete details of the show are still up in the air, and a release date etc. has not been announced. The Post’s Michael Riedel seems to think the musical will be happening in the Hilton Theater. According to Ridel, “The “Spider-Man” crew has been all over the Hilton Theatre.” The Hilton is currently showing Mel brook’s “Young Frankenstein,” but Riedel says the theater’s large size makes it one of the only theaters that could handle a production like Spiderman.
Stay tuned to Spiderman tickets to learn more about the musical. And of course once tickets start going on sale we will have all the Spiderman Musical ticket information you need.