Categories
  Encyclosphere.org ENCYCLOREADER
  supported by EncyclosphereKSF

Grand Theft Hamlet

From Wikipedia - Reading time: 8 min

Grand Theft Hamlet
UK theatrical release poster
Directed by
Written by
  • Sam Crane
  • Pinny Grylls
Produced byJulia Ton
Rebecca Wolff
StarringSam Crane
Mark Oosterveen
CinematographyPinny Grylls
Edited byPinny Grylls
Music byJamie Perera
Production
companies
  • Project 1961
  • Grasp the Nettle Films
  • Park Pictures
Distributed byTull Stories[1]
Release dates
  • March 2024 (2024-03) (SXSW)
  • 6 December 2024 (2024-12-06) (United Kingdom)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$214,530[2][3]

Grand Theft Hamlet is a 2024 British documentary film directed by Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls.[4] The film is about the staging of a production of Hamlet in the video game Grand Theft Auto Online during one of the UK's COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns in 2021.[5]

Premise

[edit]

The documentary follows Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen as they attempt to cast and produce a live virtual production of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet in the video game Grand Theft Auto Online while staying home due to lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. The film is shot entirely within the video game as a Machinima production and the subjects are all depicted by their in-game avatars.[6]

Release

[edit]

The film premiered at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Award for best documentary feature.[5][7] The film was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on 6 December 2024 by Tull Stories, with Mubi releasing the film theatrically in the United States on 17 January 2025 and globally on its streaming service on 21 February 2025.[8]

Reception

[edit]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 76 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "A startling example of using any tools at your disposal to make memorable art, Grand Theft Hamlet's experimental approach does justice by the Bard."[9] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[10]

Glenn Kenny of RogerEbert.com gave the film four out of four stars and wrote, "More than just a shaggy dog story, Grand Theft Hamlet is a pointed, entertaining and moving examination of interdisciplinary conductivity at its most surprising."[11]

Accolades

[edit]
Award / Film Festival Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
SXSW Film Festival 13 March 2024 Jury Award for best documentary feature Grand Theft Hamlet Won [7]
British Independent Film Awards 8 December 2024 Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls Won [6]
Raindance Maverick Award Grand Theft Hamlet Won [6]
Vancouver International Film Festival 17 October 2024 Audience Award Grand Theft Hamlet Won [12]
57th Sitges Film Festival 12 October 2024 Best Sitges Documenta Film Grand Theft Hamlet Won [13]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Dalton, Ben (15 October 2024). "Tull Stories acquires 'Grand Theft Hamlet' for UK-Ireland theatrical release". Screen International. Archived from the original on 23 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  2. ^ "Grand Theft Hamlet – Financial Information". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 28 November 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  3. ^ "Grand Theft Hamlet – Financial Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 28 November 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  4. ^ "'Grand Theft Hamlet': Altitude Boards SXSW Doc About Actors Who Staged Hamlet Production Inside 'Grand Theft Auto' Video Game". Deadline Hollywood. 8 March 2024. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  5. ^ a b Zilko, Christian (2024-03-13). "'Grand Theft Hamlet' Filmmakers Talk Staging Shakespeare Inside 'GTA': 'If They Thought We Were Sh*t, They Were Gonna Shoot Us'". IndieWire. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
  6. ^ a b c "Grand Theft Auto: How Shakespeare's Hamlet found a virtual stage". BBC News. Retrieved 2024-12-23.
  7. ^ a b "'Bob Trevino Likes It', 'Grand Theft Hamlet' top SXSW juried award winners". screendaily.com. Retrieved 2024-03-16.
  8. ^ Kennedy, Victoria (15 October 2024). "Hamlet film made in GTA Online coming to US cinemas and global streaming services". Eurogamer. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  9. ^ "Grand Theft Hamlet". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
  10. ^ "Grand Theft Hamlet". Metacritic. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  11. ^ Kenny, Glenn (January 14, 2025). "Grand Theft Hamlet". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved January 15, 2025.
  12. ^ "Grand Theft Hamlet (2024) Awards & Festivals". mubi.com. Retrieved 2025-01-22.
  13. ^ "Todos los ganadores de Sitges - Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya 2024". EscribiendoCine (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-01-22.
[edit]


Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 | Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Hamlet
15 views | Status: cached on August 05 2025 05:21:40
↧ Download as ZWI file
Encyclosphere.org EncycloReader is supported by the EncyclosphereKSF