The Disney Plus version of the show will include the original Broadway cast.
Joan Marcus
The hugely popular musical Hamilton is coming to Disney Plus on July 3rd Company said Tuesday. The film was previously scheduled for a theatrical release in October 2021, but Disney decided to take it straight to the streaming service 15 months earlier given the corona virus pandemic.
The musical, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, tells the story of the founding father (and first Treasury Secretary) of Alexander Hamilton. The film directed by Thomas Kail is actually the stage show that was shot in 2016 with the original Broadway cast.
“I am so proud of how beautiful Tommy Kail Hamilton has put on the screen. He has given everyone who sees this film the best place in the house,” said Miranda in a press release. “I am so grateful to Disney and Disney Plus that they reinterpreted our release and postponed it to the July 4th weekend of this year, given the world upside down.”
Disney’s change underscores how disruptive the pandemic was for the Hollywood studio’s carefully planned release cycles. With cinemas closing and corona virus prevention measures keeping people at home, most of the studios have decided to keep postponing theatrical releases for mega-budget images. With their Tentpole films in a queue pattern, the studios could expect to release a flood of films on top of each other, which limits ticket sales.
Given the grim reality that the world is unlikely to return to normal soon, studios are starting to send films on a budget to online sales and rentals.
For example, Universal released the Trolls World Tour, the sequel to the animated film 2016, as an online rental on the same day that it premiered in a small number of cinemas in April. The digital sale generated as much money in three weeks as the first Trolls film that was made during a five-month film run.
Hamilton will be the second Disney film to skip theaters. Artemis Fowl, a science fiction fantasy based on a series of novels for young adults, will go straight to streaming on June 12, after it was originally scheduled to open in May.
It’s not clear if Hamilton will get a theatrical release afterwards, but it seems unlikely. Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.