A filmed version of “Hamilton” will be released by Walt Disney Studios in October 2021.
The film features a live capture of the Broadway show and was shot at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in June 2016. The announcement of the film release comes after Walt Disney reached an agreement for worldwide distribution rights with creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, producer Jeffrey Seller and director Thomas Kail.
The film will be released in the U.S. and Canada on Oct. 15, 2021.
“Lin-Manuel Miranda created an unforgettable theater experience and a true cultural phenomenon, and it was for good reason that ‘Hamilton’ was hailed as an astonishing work of art. All who saw it with the original cast will never forget that singular experience,” Robert A. Iger, chairman and chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company, said in the press release. “And we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to share this same Broadway experience with millions of people around the world.”
Miranda, Seller and Kail are also producing the film. Kail directed the live capture.
The original Broadway cast appearing in the film includes Miranda, as well as Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry and Leslie Odom Jr., who all won Tony Awards for their performances. Additional original cast members include Christopher Jackson, Jonathan Groff, Phillipa Soo, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Okieriete Onaodowan and Anthony Ramos. In total, the show won 11 Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The film release news comes as “Hamilton” continues to see robust Broadway grosses, with the box office totals often hovering at or reaching above $3 million, more than four years after opening at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. The strong grosses suggest that the Broadway production (as well as other productions in the U.S. and worldwide) may still be running when the film version is released, in contrast to traditional wisdom about commercial producing. Producers have typically shied away from releasing competing products in the same market for fear of cannibalization.
Press representatives for both Disney and “Hamilton” declined to comment on the decision to release the film beyond the press release.
“We are thrilled for fans of the show, and new audiences across the world, to experience what it was like on stage – and in the audience – when we shot this at The Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway in June of 2016. We wanted to give everyone the same seat, which is what this film can provide,” Kail said in the release.
In addition to the Broadway production, “Hamilton” has two nationally touring productions, a sitdown production in San Francisco, a production on the West End and a planned production in Australia in March 2021.
