‘Lion King’ grosses $5M in Dayton

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DAYTON — “Disney’s The Lion King” concluded its second triumphant engagement in Dayton, July 3, at the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center.

The four-week return grossed more than $5 million at the box office and entertained nearly 68,000 patrons during 32 performances. The award-winning musical’s four-week premiere engagement in 2011 played a record-breaking run at the Schuster Center.

It is estimated that the Dayton engagement of “The Lion King” generated an economic benefit of more than $17 million to the city from travel, hotels, restaurants, parking and other businesses patronized by both theatergoers and production staff. This figure is based upon a Touring Broadway League report which found that, on average, Broadway tours contribute an economic impact 3.4 times the gross ticket sales to the local metropolitan area’s economy.

“On behalf of all of us at Victoria Theater Association, I would like to thank our patrons for embracing this production of ‘Disney’s The Lion King’ in such overwhelming numbers,”said Ken Neufeld, president and CEO of Victoria Theatre Association. “The engagement was a perfect showcase for the beautiful Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center’s Mead Theatre and this wonderful production. Our sincere thanks to the wonderful ‘Lion King’ company and crew that shared their talents with our Miami Valley audience.”

“We were thrilled to return to Dayton and to once again share the experience of this groundbreaking production with so many first-time and regular theatergoers,” said Jack Eldon, vice president, domestic, Disney Theatrical Productions. “We are overwhelmed by the enduring response to the show and thank the Dayton community and our partners at the Victoria Theatre Association for another sensational engagement.”

The North American touring productions of “The Lion King” have been seen by more than 17 million theatergoers and grossed more than $1.2 billion to date. After 14 years on the road, “The Lion King” continues to play to standing-room-only houses throughout North America.

Staff report

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