The Barbican has seen a huge boost in ticket sales thanks to Barbenheimer and the stage show of Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbour Totoro, a report has shown.
Some 154,243 bought tickets to the Barbican’s cinema between January and November 2023, a 32 per cent increase compared to the same time the previous year, with an extra 37,000 tickets being sold.
Last year UK cinemas had the busiest weekend for ticket sales in four years thanks to the release of Barbie and Oppenheimer.
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s performance of My Neighbour Totoro is now the highest grossing show ever at the Barbican's theatre, its CEO report shows.
The show officially opened on November 30 and it has now sold £10.75 million worth of tickets.
Nearly 27,000 extra tickets were sold at the Barbican’s theatre in 2023 compared with the previous year, the report shows.
Some 285,627 tickets were sold at the theatre between January and November 2023.
The brutalist art centre also saw a “great uplift” in visitors thanks to Graduation ceremonies and people visiting its plant-filled Conservatory.
Overall footfall was up 16 per cent at the Barbican in 2023 compared with the previous year and 1,105,380 tickets were sold between January and November 2023.
The Barbican reported art gallery sales were down 32 per cent in 2023 but said the drop was due to the success of its immersive exhibition Our Time On Earth.
The art centre also hosted two pilot club nights which it hoped would bring a “younger and more culturally diverse demographic”.
An event with rapper Greentea Peng sold out within three days while an event partnered with Bootylicious, the UK’s longest running Black and LGBTQ+ club night also sold out and 72% of attendees were new bookers at the Barbican.
