Lin-Manuel Miranda Says Disney+ Debut Had Interesting Impact on Hamilton Viewers

By Nicole Drum

Lin-Manuel Miranda's wildly popular Broadway musical Hamilton debuted on Disney+ back in July 2020. It turns out that the filmed version of the musical was just as popular on streaming as the live Broadway show was in theaters, as it delivered big numbers for Disney+. But while there were those who thought bringing a filmed version of Hamilton to Disney+ would deter people from wanting to see the show live, it turns out that the opposite is true. According to Playbill (via ScreenRant), Hamilton on Disney+ has sparked increased interest in seeing Hamilton live.

"It forever demolishes the idea that a beautifully shot version of your show diminishes the demand to see it live," Miranda said. "In all of our estimates, it's only amplified the demand to see Hamilton live. To have more pro shots, to have those out in the world, I think is a win. I would love to see more of that going forward."

Telling the story of Alexander Hamilton, Hamilton premiered Off-Broadway on February 17, 2015, and quickly became a sensation, opening on Broadway on August 6th of that same year. The filmed version of Hamilton was produced in 2016 with the original Broadway cast and sat on an encrypted hard drive for a few years before it was sold to Disney. Disney initially had the intention of releasing the filmed version in theaters, but once the coronavirus pandemic began to spread and shut down most aspects of pre-pandemic life, the filmed version made its way to Disney+ for audiences at home. Interestingly, when Disney's Bob Iger reached out to the Hamilton team to see if they would allow the film's release on the streaming platform, they initially said no.

"I thought we should stay the course, but I confess that was early in the epidemic, when we thought we might go back to work in the summer," producer Jeffrey Seller told The New York Times. "As the profundity of this pandemic set in, and I realized we're not coming back this year, I thought we should reconsider."

The filmed version of Hamilton is now streaming on Disney+.

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