It’s About Hamil-Time

Mackenzie Bentley, Staff Writer|September 14, 2020

2020…streaming on Disney Plus…

Pardon me, have you heard? Hamilton fans all over the world have waited for this moment since 2015! 

 

 

In light of the arising pandemic, Broadway shut down for the safety of their actors and their audiences, but that didn’t stop Lin-Manuel Miranda from sharing his work. The well known musical, “Hamilton” was said to be filmed early in its debut on Broadway, but that recording was put into a vault and forgotten about over the years. The original plan was for the film to be released in October of 2021, but as Covid-19 continued to worsen, Miranda decided to push the date up to July of 2020. Once this information was publicized, not a single fan could Wait For It! 

In an interview via Zoom meeting with The Washington Post, Miranda states, “More people will see the show between July 3 and 5 than have seen it anywhere onstage.”

Typically, the show seats around 1,300 people in the audience, but now people all over the world get to be in the room where it happens for the monthly fee of only $6.99. This was a very large and important step for Miranda because he not only starred in the musical as ‘Alexander Hamilton’, but he wrote the entire show and after its debut and awards over the years, it was finally released in film and shared with more viewers.

The release of the musical was not only beneficial to the writers, but to the Disney Plus company. According to Variety, between July 3rd and Sunday July 5th, the app was “downloaded 752,451 times globally, including 458,796 times in the U.S., according to analytics firm Apptopia.” The percentage of downloads was calculated out to 74% more than average. Due to the high download rate, the company suspended their 7-day free trial offer. No one is sure if they will ever bring the option back, but as of right now, Disney Plus is making more money than they imagined after releasing ‘Hamilton’.

After seeing how well the musical took off, many other musicals may appear on Disney Plus soon.

SOURCES

“’Hamilton’ Drives Up Disney Plus App Downloads 74% Over the Weekend in U.S.” Variety, Variety, 6 July 2020, variety.com/2020/digital/news/hamilton-disney-plus-premiere-app-downloads-72-percent-1234698795/.

“’Hamilton’ Drives Up Disney Plus App Downloads 74% Over the Weekend in U.S.” Variety, Variety, 6 July 2020, variety.com/2020/digital/news/hamilton-disney-plus-premiere-app-downloads-72-percent-1234698795/.