Hamilton "History Has It's Eyes On You/Yorktown" 2016 Tony Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5VqyCQV1Tg
While rumors have been circling around Hollywood for several months, it had been officially announced that the popular 2015 Broadway Play, “Hamilton”, would be coming to theaters in the near future. Originally announced in February 2020, “Hamilton” was planned to be released in theaters in coordination with Disney on October 15, 2021.
So it was a bit of a surprise on May 20th, when Disney announced that the massive Broadway success was going to be bumped up a whole year and instead of being released it theaters, it was going straight to streaming with its debut premiering on July 3, 2020 on Disney +. While viewers, audiences and pop culture lovers alike were shocked by Disney’s very public announcement, it really shouldn’t have come as a surprise, Disney is suffering and the movie titan will benefit from the early release.
It’s no secret that studios, corporations, businesses and people alike are struggling during these un-precedented times dealing with the impact COVID-19 on our everyday lives. However, Disney has really been taking the hit – the largest impact to its viability? Parks and Sports. Disney owns the largest Amusement Parks in the world and, with its acquisition of ESPN in 1996, it owns the vast majority of sports entertainment – both of which have been suspended in the wake of COVID. Disney Parks have been shut down since March along with the majority of sports games. Disney Parks make up roughly $26 Billion of Disney's Revenue stream (Based on Disney 2019 Annual Report).
The loss of both of these essential pieces to Disney’s business have been almost catastrophic – check out the stock prices for the reminder. It’s saving grace? “Hamilton.” The Acquisition of “Hamilton” by Disney in early 2020 was facilitated and marked with the stamp of approval by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Musical’s Creator. Since its debut in 2015, “Hamilton” has amassed $600M in profit and Disney grabbed the rights with a payment of $75M to earn the distribution rights to the play. The movie was shot in 2016 with the original cast, marking one of the last times the actors and actresses took the stage together. The Release is not going to be a stereotypical movie adaptation like we have seen before with “Phantom of the Opera” (2006) or “Cats!” (2019)….yikes, it will simply be “Hamilton” performed on stage, just recorded. Now, due to the scope of the movie, there will most likely be some minor changes to the arrangement and shots, but it will still feel like a Broadway musical. The estimated run time – 3 hours.
Why the rush to push “Hamilton” to theaters? It is odd, most Musical Adaptations have their 15+ year run on Broadway before turning to movie studios for screen adaptations. “Hamilton” has only been out in the world for 5-years, some fear that its rush to movie format will discourage viewers from seeing the play live once theaters re-open. However, Broadway has also been shut down since March and its experiences like this and concerts and other large gatherings of people will most likely be the last places to re-open as we adjust to a new normal after a world-wide pandemic.
Disney really shouldn’t be worried about viewers when “Hamilton” is released, they announced in May of 2020 that they calculate roughly over 54.5 Million Subscribers are registered to Disney+, compared to the 33.5 Million it recorded on March 28, 2020. That is a 60% increase in subscribers in just 40 days! I will be monitoring to see how these subscriber numbers increase as we approach the “Hamilton” Launch Date on July 3rd.
And that’s the sitch.
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