A Movie Shot In Grand Theft Auto Online Hits Theaters Soon

During the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us found ourselves searching for ways to combat boredom, but few took it to the extreme of filming an entire documentary within Grand Theft Auto Online. Titled Grand Theft Hamlet, this innovative project has attracted attention, winning the jury award for best documentary feature at SXSW this year, and is now set for both theatrical and streaming releases.

According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter, the independent streaming platform Mubi has secured the distribution rights for Grand Theft Hamlet. This documentary chronicles the journey of two actors attempting to stage a rendition of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet within the expansive universe of GTA Online. However, as seen in the showcased clips, they encounter a variety of challenges in a game where chaos and mayhem are part of the experience.

The film will premiere in the UK at the BFI London Film Festival next week, with an anticipated theatrical release in early 2025. Although Mubi has yet to disclose detailed information, an official post on X (formerly Twitter) described it as “a groundbreaking, immersive interpretation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.”

An innovative, immersive take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, shot entirely inside the world of Grand Theft Auto, Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane’s festival hit GRAND THEFT HAMLET is coming soon to US theaters + streaming globally. pic.twitter.com/6FMYCt5423

— MUBI (@mubi) October 10, 2024

Grand Theft Hamlet can be compared to classic machinima like Red vs. Blue, where creators shoot scenes using gaming engines. This practice is still around, with examples like the widely popular Skibidi Toilet, produced using Source Filmmaker, but it’s not as prevalent as during the peak of YouTube and the web series era.

While it may not signal a resurgence of successful machinima, it’s a rarity to see such a film reach theaters. In a landscape filled with video game adaptations, it could be intriguing to witness a game interpreted as it exists on the big screen. However, it remains uncertain if it will premiere before the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6.