Broadway, despite being thought of as a high-class form of entertainment, is one of the most creatively bankrupt forms of entertainment in America.
Ever since The Producers became what felt like the biggest thing ever in theater in 2001, every film property in the world was suddenly up for the musical treatment and is what lead to such productions as Legally Blonde: The Musical, Mean Girls: The Musical and even The Wedding Singer: The Musical and Pretty Woman: The Musical.
One of the few original properties on The Great White Way since then has been 2015’s Hamilton. Now five tears after becoming a cultural phenomenon Hamilton will finally be hitting the big screen.
Hamilton star and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has announced today that he has sold the rights to a Hamilton film to Disney for $75 million.
That’s a lot of Benjamins.
Hamilton will now be a film, but not a traditional film. Instead it will be a “live capture” of the Broadway show with the film’s original cast. This live capture was actually shot in 2016.
According to Disney, it will be more than just a recording of the 11 time Tony award winning stage show, but rather an experience “combining the best elements of live theater and film”. Whatever that means.
The film will not hit theaters until sometime in 2021, so it may take nearly two entire years before being released.
Part of the reason for the long wait from shooting to final release is that Hamilton is still selling out on Broadway five years after it’s debut, with single ticket prices in the hundreds of dollar range. Putting the release date off by a couple of years will ensure the film does not cut into the show’s ticket sales on Broadway.
$75 million is a lot of money to pony up for a recording of a show. Things like this normally don’t make that much money and are in theaters as limited releases.
Does Disney really think this will make the $200 million needed to make a profit? Or is this just an expensive way to get in good with Lin-Manuel Miranda for the rights to make a proper movie version of the film?
