Hamilton is coming to Disney+ a year early—just in time for Fourth of July
Enlarge / The Broadway production of Hamilton won 11 Tony awards in 2016, as well as the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Now a "live capture" film version is coming to Disney+. (credit: Walt Disney Company )
Rise up and rejoice, Hamilton fans, because the filmed performance of the blockbuster Broadway musical is coming to Disney+ a year earlier than anticipated, just in time for Fourth of July festivities. It's an unusual move for the Mouse House, which paid a whopping $75 million for the worldwide rights back in February and had originally set a theatrical release date of fall 2021. But with the pandemic shuttering so many cinemas and theaters worldwide, Disney is clearly betting on its hugely successful streaming service (which just surpassed 50 million subscribers) to recoup its investment.
No other artistic work in the last decade has had the cultural impact of Hamilton-an inspiring and captivating tale told and performed in a powerfully creative way. In light of the extraordinary challenges facing our world, this story about leadership, tenacity, hope, love, and the power of people to unite against the forces of adversity is both relevant and impactful," Bob Iger, executive chairman of The Walt Disney Company, said in a statement. We are thrilled to bring this phenomenon to Disney+ on the eve of Independence Day, and we have the brilliant Lin-Manuel Miranda and the team behind Hamilton to thank for allowing us to do so more than a year before planned."
For those who have inexplicably missed the Hamilton juggernaut of the last several years, it's the creation of Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights), who was inspired after reading Ron Chernow's 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton. The musical follows the high points of the founding father's colorful life in two acts, with music that expertly blends a wide variety of styles: hip-hop R&B, traditional show tunes, pop, and soul. (The rap-based "Cabinet Battle #1" and "Cabinet Battle #2" are instant classics; in fact, the entire original cast recording will have you humming the tunes for weeks.)
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