By Zach Johnson
Look around! Look around at how lucky we are! Today, The Walt Disney Company, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeffrey Seller, and Thomas Kail announced an agreement for the worldwide distribution rights that will bring Hamilton—the 11-time-Tony Award®-, Grammy Award®-, Olivier Award-, and Pulitzer Prize-winning stage musical—to movie screens. The film will be released by The Walt Disney Studios in the United States and Canada on October 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,” said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. “And we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to share this same Broadway experience with millions of people around the world.”
The original Broadway cast appearing in the film include Tony Award winners Miranda as Alexander Hamilton; Daveed Diggs as Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson; Renée Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler; and Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron Burr; Tony Award nominees Christopher Jackson as George Washington; Jonathan Groff as King George; Phillipa Soo as Eliza Hamilton; and Jasmine Cephas Jones as Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds; Okieriete Onaodowan as Hercules Mulligan/James Madison; and Anthony Ramos as John Laurens/Philip Hamilton.
The cast also includes Carleigh Bettiol, Ariana DeBose, Hope Easterbrook, Sydney James Harcourt, Sasha Hutchings, Thayne Jasperson, Elizabeth Judd, Jon Rua, Austin Smith, Seth Stewart, and Ephraim Sykes. Film producers include Miranda, Seller, and Kail, who also directs.
“I fell in love with musical storytelling growing up with the legendary Howard Ashman-Alan Menken Disney collaborations—The Little Mermaid, Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin,” said Miranda. “I’m so proud of what Tommy Kail has been able to capture in this filmed version of Hamilton—a live theatrical experience that feels just as immediate in your local movie theater. We’re excited to partner with Disney to bring the original Broadway company of Hamilton to the largest audience possible.”
The film of the original Broadway cast performing Hamilton is a leap forward in the art of “live capture,” as it will transport audience into the world of the Broadway show in a uniquely intimate way. Combining the best elements of live theater and film, the result is a cinematic stage performance that is a wholly new way to experience Hamilton. “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,” said Kail. “We wanted to give everyone the same seat, which is what this film can provide.”
