Harry Potter and the Cursed Child maker remains in the red amid West End troubles

The company behind the globally popular stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, continues to face financial difficulties as falling sales and show closures take their toll. The joint venture responsible for producing the show worldwide reported a turnover of £41.3m for the year ending 31 March 2024, a decrease from the previous year's £45.2m.

According to recently filed accounts with Companies House, its pre-tax loss also increased from £960,026 to £876,003 during the same period. The last time the joint venture recorded a pre-tax profit was in the year ending 31 October 2020, when it achieved £955,945, as reported by City AM.

Harry Potter Theatrical Productions, founded by JK Rowling and Neil Blair in 2013, works alongside Sonia Friedman Productions and Colin Callender’s Playground through their joint venture, HPCC Group, to produce, invest in, and license the play. Over the course of the year, productions were staged in cities including London, New York, Hamberg, Tokyo, Melbourne, and Toronto.

However, the Melbourne production closed in July 2023 after a five-year run, and the Toronto show also ended that month after just over a year. Despite these closures, ticket sales increased from 496,214 to 544,257.

A statement approved by the board attributed the decline in revenue to a broader industry trend in the UK, with West End earnings falling after an exceptionally strong 2022, boosted by a surge in post-Covid demand.

"In London, the popularity of the original two-part production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child endures with the show celebrating its seven-year anniversary during the period."

"The show remains profitable and continues to make profit distributions during the year."

"The single-part New York production continues and has become the fifth-longest-running play in Broadway history."

"The New York production was also profitable during the period and made profit distributions to the benefit of the group."

"Both London and Broadway have an open-ended run and currently the directors expect this to continue. The licensed productions are ongoing."

"During the year, the group agreed a brand new worldwide schools’ licence, which will enable participating schools to produce a special adaptation of the show."

"Beyond the financial period under review, a new North American tour opened, starting in Chicago in September 2024, with future performances in Los Angeles and Washington DC also confirmed."

City AM reported in June that Nimax Theatres, the West End operator behind prominent London venues such as The Palace, Garrick, and Apollo Theatres, saw a turnover rise to nearly £33m over the 12 months ending 1 October, 2023. This increase from just under £32m the previous year represents a 10% growth since the period ending 29 September, 2019 – marking the group's last fiscal year before the outbreak of the pandemic.

The company managed to stay profitable despite a slight dip in pre-tax profit from £8.5m to £7.5m over the year. Nimax attributed much of its success to long-running shows, with three theatres in its group hosting year-long productions: Harry Potter and The Cursed Child and The Play That Goes Wrong, playing at The Dutchess and Palace Theatres respectively, and the musical Six, which concluded its second full-year run at the Vauderville.

In October, City AM reported that profits at Warner Bros’ Harry Potter studio tour near London exceeded £100m as it created over 100 jobs to manage the growing demand for the attraction. The business behind Warner Bros Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, posted a pre-tax profit of £100.8m for 2023.

This new total followed Warner Bros Studios Leavesden's pre-tax profit of £79.7m for 2022. The accounts also revealed that the company’s turnover increased from £247.1m to £258.4m during the same period.

To accommodate the rising demand for the tour, the business expanded its workforce from 622 to 724 within the year. Warner Bros Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter is a walk-through exhibition in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, owned by the US film studio’s tours division.