Grand Theft Hamlet

2024 documentary film

Grand Theft Hamlet

UK theatrical release poster

Directed by|

* Sam Crane
* Pinny Grylls

Written by|

* Sam Crane
* Pinny Grylls

Produced by| Julia Ton
Rebecca Wolff
Starring| Sam Crane
Mark Oosterveen
Cinematography| Pinny Grylls
Edited by| Pinny Grylls
Music by| Jamie Perera

Production
companies

* Project 1961
* Grasp the Nettle Films
* Park Pictures

Distributed by| Tull Stories[1]

Release dates

* March 2024 (2024-03) (SXSW)
* 6 December 2024 (2024-12-06) (United Kingdom)

Running time

| 89 minutes
Country| United Kingdom
Language| English
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.

## External links

[edit]

* Grand Theft Hamlet at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Grand Theft Auto

by Rockstar Games

Main games|

| Grand Theft Auto| Grand Theft Auto 2

|

* London 1969

| Grand Theft Auto III| Grand Theft Auto: Vice City| Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

|
|

* Tommy Vercetti

* "Hot Coffee"
* Carl Johnson
* Soundtracks

| Grand Theft Auto IV| Grand Theft Auto V| Grand Theft Auto VI

|
|

* Niko Bellic
* The Lost and Damned
* The Ballad of Gay Tony
* "No Sex for Ben"

* Development
* Trevor Philips
* Music
* "Old Love / New Love"
* "Sleepwalking"
* Online

Other games|

* Advance
* Liberty City Stories
* Vice City Stories
* Chinatown Wars
* The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition

Other media|

* Grand Theft Childhood
* Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto
* The Gamechangers
* Grand Theft Hamlet

People|

* Leslie Benzies
* Mike Dailly
* Dan Houser
* Sam Houser
* David Jones
* Lazlow Jones

Related|

* Grand Theft Auto clone
* Grand Theft Auto modding
* Multi Theft Auto
* Devin Moore
* Strickland v. Sony

* Category

* v
* t
* e

William Shakespeare's Hamlet

Characters|

* Hamlet
* Claudius
* Gertrude
* Ghost
* Polonius
* Laertes
* Ophelia
* Horatio
* Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
* Fortinbras
* The Gravediggers
* Yorick

Soliloquies|

* "To be, or not to be"
* "Mortal coil"
* "What a piece of work is a man"
* "Speak the speech"

Words and phrases|

* "Hoist with his own petard"
* "The lady doth protest too much, methinks"
* "Thy name is"

Terminology|

* Dumbshow
* Induction
* Quiddity
* Substitution

* Sources
* Criticism

* Legend of Hamlet
* The Spanish Tragedy
* Ur-Hamlet
* Critical approaches
* Bibliographies
* Saxo Grammaticus
* House of Gonzaga
* Damon and Pythias

Influence|

* Common phrases from Hamlet
* Cultural references to Hamlet
* Cultural references to Ophelia
* Language of flowers
* Human skull symbolism

Performances|

* Moscow Art Theatre (1911–1912)
* Richard Burton (1964)
* List of skulls used to depict Yorick

On screen|

* 1900
* 1907
* 1908
* 1912
* 1913
* 1917
* 1921
* 1935
* 1948
* 1954
* 1961
* 1964
* 1969
* 1974
* 1990
* 1996
* 2000
* 2011
* upcoming film

Adaptations|

| Films|

* The Rest Is Silence (1959)
* The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
* Ophelia (1963)
* Johnny Hamlet (1968)
* One Hamlet Less (1973)
* The Angel of Vengeance – The Female Hamlet (1977)
* Strange Brew (1983)
* Hamlet Goes Business (1987)
* The Lion King (1994)
* Let the Devil Wear Black (1999)
* The Banquet (2006)
* Doubt (2009)
* Karmayogi (2012)
* Haider (2014)
* Hamlet A.D.D. (2014)
* Hemanta (2016)
* Ophelia (2018)
* The Lion King (2019)

|

Novels|

* Hamlet Had an Uncle (1940)
* Too, Too Solid Flesh (1989)
* Gertrude and Claudius (2000)
* Dating Hamlet (2002)
* The Dead Fathers Club (2006)
* Something Rotten (2007)
* Hamlet's Father (2008)
* The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (2008)

Plays|

* Hamletmachine (1977)
* Dogg's Hamlet (1979)
* Fortinbras (1991)

Musicals|

* Rockabye Hamlet (1973)

Television|

* Hamlet (Australian TV, 1959)
* Hamlet at Elsinore (BBC, 1964)
* Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (BBC, 1980)
* Hamlet (BBC 2, animated, 1992)
* Hamlet (BBC 2, 2009)

Parodies|

* 15-Minute Hamlet
* The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
* Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
* I, Hamlet
* The Klingon Hamlet
* "Lyle the Kindly Viking"
* To Be or Not to Be: That is the Adventure
* "Tales from the Public Domain"
* The Skinhead Hamlet

Songs|

* "My Robin is to the greenwood gone" (16th century)
* "Pull Me Under" (1992)
* "Song for Athene" (1997)

Opera/classical|

* Hamlet (Thomas)
* Amleto (Faccio)
* Hamlet (Tchaikovsky)
* Tristia (Berlioz)
* Die Hamletmaschine (Rihm)
* Hamlet (Dean)

In popular culture|

| Films|

* To Be or Not to Be (1942)
* A Performance of Hamlet in the Village of Mrduša Donja (1973)
* To Be or Not to Be (1983)
* Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)
* Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)
* Last Action Hero (1993)
* Renaissance Man (1994)
* In the Bleak Midwinter (1995)
* War (2002)
* Hamlet 2 (2008)
* Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead (2009)
* Three Days (of Hamlet) (2012)
* Grand Theft Hamlet (2024)

|

Plays|

* Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966)
* Stage Blood (1974)
* I Hate Hamlet (1991)
* To Be or Not to Be (2008)

Novels|

* Hamlet, Revenge! (1937)
* Theatre of War (1994)
* "The Undiscovered" (1997)
* The Shakespeare Stealer (1998)
* Interred with Their Bones (2007)
* Hamnet (2020)

Television|

* "The Producer" (1966)
* "The Conscience of the King" (1966)
* "Born to Be King" (1983)
* "Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow" (2001)
* Slings & Arrows (2003)

Video games|

* Last Action Hero (1993)
* Hamlet (2010)
* Elsinore (2019)

Books|

* Asterix and the Great Crossing
* The Seagull
* Sharpe's Havoc

Art|

* Ophelia (Millais)
* Ophelia (Cabanel)
* Affe mit Schädel
* Ophelia (Waterhouse)
* Polish Hamlet. Portrait of Aleksander Wielopolski
* The River Bank (Ophelia)

Related|

* Hamlet and Oedipus
* Hamlet and His Problems
* Hebenon
* Hamlet Q1
* Ostalo je ćutanje
* The Chronicles of Amber
* "Symphony No. 65" (Haydn)
* The Hobart Shakespeareans
* Gertrude – The Cry
* Poor Murderer
* Something Rotten!
* Sons of Anarchy

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