Disney has moved up the release date of its stage recording of the hit musical Hamilton on Disney+. Originally, the show was set for a theatrical release in October 2021, but a Disney+ exec has announced that the plan for Hamilton has changed and it will be available on the streaming platform July 3, 2020. Just in time for Independence Day.
The Verge reports that Disney paid $75 million for the rights to the Hamilton recording, with the intention of sending it to theaters. Now, the company will apparently be using it to pull subscribers back into Disney+ as original content on the platform is waning.
“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,” said Bob Iger, Disney’s executive chairman (and former CEO) in a press release. “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.”
Producers for “Hamilton,” the film of the original Broadway production, include Miranda, Seller, and Kail, who also directs. The recording was filmed at The Rodgers Theatre on Broadway in June 2016. The cast includes Lin-Manuel Miranda as Alexander Hamilton; Daveed Diggs as Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson; Renée Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler; 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.
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