'Spider-Man' musical breaks records

NEW YORK, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" rang in the new year as the highest grossing show on Broadway, the musical's producers said.

The stage version of the iconic superhero tale, which features music by U2's Bono and The Edge, set a new record for the highest single-week gross of any show in history with a total gross of $2,941,790.20, besting the previous record of $2,228,235 set by "Wicked" in 2011.

Playing in the last week of 2011 to 17,375 audience members -- 100.02 percent capacity with standing room at The Foxwoods Theatre -- "Spider-Man" also enjoyed the highest single-week attendance by any show in Broadway history, playing a nine-show holiday schedule, the producers said in a news release.

"What a fantastic bit of news to kick off 2012," Bono and The Edge said in a joint statement Wednesday. "It just goes to show that you can't keep a good superhero down. We are raising our glasses to our indefatigable cast and crew, and the theatergoers who watch them every night. Broadway is a very special place; we love being a small part of it."

The $70 million show began preview performances Nov. 28, 2010. It later closed for three weeks so its creative team could work out technical bugs and story issues. It officially opened in June 2011 and has been a hot ticket ever since.