The Design Museum today reveals that its major retrospective on the exceptional career of director Tim Burton has become the most visited exhibition in the museum’s history.
Tim Burton and curator Maria McLintock visit ‘The World of Tim Burton’ , a new exhibition at the Design Museum in London featuring over 600 items relating to the filmmaker’s career, ahead of it opening to the public on Friday. Picture date: Wednesday October 23. PA Photo. Objects such as sketches, drawings, props, set designs, and costumes have been loaned from Tim Burton’s extensive personal archives, key film studio archives including Paramount, Amazon MGM Studios, and Warner Bros., and the private collections of Burton’s collaborators. Many items have never been on public display in the UK before. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/PA Media Assignments
Over 171,000 people have so far experienced The World of Tim Burton as of yesterday (24 February 2025). This is the highest attendance of any show since the Design Museum was established over 35-years ago.
Due to this record-breaking demand, the museum announces that the Burton exhibition will have its run extended by five weeks. Originally due to close on 21 April, it will now close on 26 May, giving even more time to delve into the Director’s personal archives. Tickets for these additional weeks have gone on sale this morning.
The exhibition arrived in London as its final destination after a hugely successful decade-long world tour that saw it visit 14 cities in 11 countries since 2014. It’s showing at the Design Museum — in an expanded and reimagined form — is the very final time the exhibition will be staged.
When The World of Tim Burton opened to the public in October 2024, it had already broken the museum’s record for the most pre-sales of any Design Museum exhibition, selling over 32,000 advance tickets.
In the four months since opening, the exhibition has surpassed the museum’s previous most popular exhibition — Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition — which welcomed over 156,000 visitors in 2019.
Also revealed today is the final attendance for the museum’s much-loved Barbie exhibition, which closed on Sunday (23 February 2025). This show saw 144,480 visitors across its 7-month run, making it the third-most visited exhibition ever at the Design Museum. The museum announces that the exhibition will go on a national and international tour with cities and venues due to be revealed later this year.
July 2024
The World of Tim Burton — which was hailed as “the exhibition of the year” by the Independent — showcases Burton’s remarkable output, with over 18 of his films individually spotlighted in the show. It celebrates the creative processes behind some of the most significant movies of the past five decades, including Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).
Highlights include hundreds of Burton’s expressionistic sketches and drawings that he has created prolifically since childhood. These are seen alongside props, set designs, and costumes from his iconic films, including Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman costume from 1992’s Batman Returns and the black and white striped dress from 1999’s Sleepy Hollow, worn by Christina Ricci.
Tim Burton, said, “I’m blown away by the response to the exhibition and to hear about the record number of visitors. I didn’t expect any of this, but the Design Museum did an amazing job and I’m so pleased that there is an extended opportunity for people to see what they created.”
Tim Marlow, Director and CEO of the Design Museum, said: “It’s been a remarkable year at the Design Museum with both the Barbie and Tim Burton exhibitions smashing our existing attendance records.
“What has been most heartening is how the design stories told in these exhibitions have resonated so strongly with visitors of all ages and backgrounds.”
“While we’re sad to see our Barbie exhibition close, we’re pleased that it will be going on a global tour with venues to be announced soon. For Burton fans, we’re delighted that we can offer five more weeks to visit — or revisit — Tim Burton’s creative world.”
The next major exhibition to open at the Design Museum will be Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style, which will examine our enduring love of water over the past 100 years. It will feature star loans including Pamela Anderson’s sensational red bathing suit from Baywatch.