War Horse
Tweet

War Horse Makes £13.2m for 'Full Throttle' National

Three years after it premiered in the NT Olivier, the stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse continues to be the National’s biggest earner – and, according to NT artistic director Nicholas Hytner, speaking at a press briefing held today on publication of the NT’s 2009-10 Annual Report, it’s the “stroke of good fortune” that’s most likely to see the National through the harsh funding times ahead.

Galloping ahead at the box office

In the transfer at the New London, War Horse took a whopping £13.2 million at the box office in the last financial year, ended 30 March 2010 (on top of the £2.7 million and £2.3 million it made in the previous two years in its first two South Bank runs). And, as the sole producer of the West End production, the National reaps the full benefit – an additional £2.5 million surplus for War Horse alone after expenditure.

Overall, War Horse accounted for a full 20% of the NT’s £64.5 million income for the year – compared with 27% from the box office of all its other productions combined, 9% from fundraising, 14% from trading and other matters and 30% from its Arts Council Grant of £19.3 million. The reduction in the proportion of turnover from subsidy is dramatic – and quite recent. In 1980, subsidy accounted for 60% of the National’s turnover; as recently as 2002, it was still nearly half.

Also significant is the figure of £64.5 million – which represents a doubling of turnover in just eight years. The 2009-10 year ended with an unrestricted operating surplus of £495,000.

War Horse’s contribution to the NT coffers will only grow in future. After the success of a TV advertising campaign, the West End production is now carrying an advance of £2.1 million. It will be followed by an opening in Toronto in January 2012 ahead of New York (of which the NT is financing 30%), a US tour launching in summer 2012 and an international tour launching that autumn. The theatre will also receive more income from the Making of War Horse DVD (its first self-produced documentary) and share in royalties from Steven Spielberg’s forthcoming film adaptation of War Horse.

South Bank attendances down

Thanks to War Horse’s 400,000 West End customers, the National also achieved record attendances of 1.2 million for the year, averaging houses at 90% capacity. However, War Horse’s phenomenal popularity does mask a slight dip in performance at the National’s three-auditoria South Bank home, where, despite the introduction of year-round Sunday matinees, attendances were down year on year at 784,000 attendances (versus 817,000 in 2008-9) and 89% capacity (versus 93%).

Hytner said today that overall figures were impacted by last Christmas’ family production of Terry Pratchett’s Nation, which failed to emulate the success of War Horse or the NT’s earlier children’s book adaptations, Coram Boy and His Dark Materials. The NT staged a total of 26 productions in the year, 20 of them were new production and, of those, nine were new plays. Hits included David Hare’s The Power of Yes, Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art, Katie Mitchell’s version of Dr Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat (the NT’s first show for three- to six-year-olds) and revivals of The White Guard, Phedre, Mother Courage and Her Children and London Assurance.

Entrepreneurial zeal

Other major developments in the period included the full launch, after an initial pilot, of NT Live, which the National aims to extend to more screenings (nine per year) and more companies (Complicite and the Donmar Warehouse are part of the already-announced second season). Last week, it was also granted planning permission for its long-discussed building renovations, now running under the project tile NT Future; the first gift of £4 million has already been received from the Monument Trust to realise these plans.

Taking War Horse and other such entrepreneurial opportunities as benchmarks, Hytner said that the National will weather the arts funding crisis ahead by “doing more and making more money”. And come what may, “we don’t intend to significantly reduce activities or to raise (ticket) prices”. Nor, as he’s said many times in the past, are they “going to respond to hard times by putting on an apparently safe repertoire – because I don’t believe a safe repertoire exists any longer”. They will continue to be “big, bold and risky” and they will work hard to share their expertise and good fortunes with other “more vulnerable” subsidised companies (See Today’s Other News).

As his NT executive director Nick Starr added: “This place works best when it’s working at full throttle.”

- by Terri Paddock

Related Content

Booking Tickets & Show Listings
	War Horse Listing Page

Internal Links
	Cooke Comedy of Errors Leads Court's NT Charge - 6th Oct 2010 News
	NT Beats Recession & Records with 93% Houses - 22nd Sep 2009 News
	Drama as £70m NT Development Gets Approval - 4th Oct 2010 News
	Live Tweeting: #WOSOuting to War Horse at the New London Theatre - 1st May 2013 features
	Michael Coveney: So, who wants to run the National Theatre after Hytner? - 11th Apr 2013 blog
	War Horse charges on - show extends to Feb 2014, new cast announced - 28th Jan 2013 news
	Photos: War Horse fifth anniversary gala - 26th Oct 2012 photos
	National announces details of War Horse's first UK tour - 2nd Oct 2012 news
	Brief Encounter with ... Michael Morpurgo - 11th Sep 2012 interviews
	Photos: Morpurgo on stage with War Horse for Kids Week Q&A - 17th Aug 2012 news
	Photos: War Horse makes Olympic appearance - 2nd Aug 2012 news
	Plays Cast: New War Horse Company, Almeida Bernarda - 8th Nov 2011 news
	National Plans War Horse UK Tour from Autumn 2013 - 20th Oct 2011 news
	- 1st Jan 1970
	Jo Caird: As Seen On TV? - When Theatre Looks to Television for Audiences - 21st Sep 2011 blog
	Brief Encounter With ... Handspring Puppet Company's Adrian Kohler - 5th Sep 2011 interviews
	Handspring & Morris Reunite for New Project??? - 30th Aug 2011 gossip
	Plays Extend: Court Soup & Bike, War Horse, Steps - 15th Jun 2011 news
	War Horse & Rylance Triumph at Tony Awards - 13th Jun 2011 news
	Jerusalem & War Horse Lead UK Tony Nominees - 3rd May 2011 news
	Will War Horse Be a Hit on Broadway??? Reviews Are In! - 15th Apr 2011 gossip
	Plays Extend: West End War Horse, Court Empire - 28th Apr 2010 news
	War Horse - 6th Apr 2009 reviews
	War Horse Gallops into New London Transfer, 3 Apr - 18th Dec 2008 news