Disney is bringing Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton to the masses. The iconic Broadway hip-hop musical is heading to the big screen thanks to Walt Disney Studios, which will release a film version with Hamilton’s original cast in 2021.
Walt Disney Studios announced the news on Twitter.
The film isn’t an adaption of the play, but an actual recording of the play, which was captured in 2016. Disney reportedly paid $75 million for the global rights to the finished film.
“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,” Disney chairman Robert Iger told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement. “And we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to share this same Broadway experience with millions of people around the world.”
“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.”Thomas Kail, a producer of Hamilton, said: “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.”
Miranda stars as Alexander Hamilton, alongside Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron Burr; Phillipa Soo as Eliza Hamilton; Renee Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler; Daveed Diggs as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson; Christopher Jackson as George Washington; Jonathan Groff as King George; Okieriete Onaodowan as Hercules Mulligan and James Madison; Anthony Ramos as John Laurens and Philip Hamilton; and Jasmine Cephas Jones as Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds.