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Broadway musicals have captured the attention of audiences for years, with some of the biggest hits being adapted into movie version. So when Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton became a global sensation after opening on Broadway in 2015, a movie seemed like an inevitability. But rather than a new movie, the show was actually filmed for posterity in 2016, starring its original principal cast. That version is arriving shortly on Disney+, and will censor a few choice F-bombs throughout the movie's runtime. Although one cast member recently explained why those edits shouldn't be much of a game changer.
Both Hamilton and Lin-Manuel Miranda's first show In the Heights brought hip hop to Broadway, including a few choice curse words during appropriate moments. Miranda previously revealed that some F-bombs were left on the cutting room floor, and I recently got the chance to ask George Washington actor Christopher Jackson about those changes to the show. But he doesn't seem too concerned about the edits, saying:
I want to say that only thing that I noticed was maybe an F-bomb or two. Outside of that, it’s the show. But I think just because of the motion picture guidelines, it’s way more important that people see it. When my kids sing along to the soundtrack they don’t get to say those words. But the first time my daughter did I said ‘Uncle Lin has some explaining to do.’
The man has a point. Because while some Hamilton purists may take umbrage with editing some of the show's language, it's all for good reason. Namely, so the MPAA could approve of the movie's wide release on Disney+ without the streaming service having to create any parental controls for the new streaming service. F-bombs aside, now we can all be in the room where it happened.
Hamilton was originally going to get a full theatrical release next summer, before the House of Mouse eventually decided to make it a streaming feature on Disney+. Fans around the world are eager to see the original principal cast's performance immortalized, even if the show needed to be slightly altered in order to facilitate a PG-13 movie. Although I have to wonder if the same censoring was planned for the movie's planned life in theaters.
Hamilton will be available to watch exclusively on Disney+. You can use this link to sign up for the new streaming service.
As Christopher Jackson mentioned in our conversation, it looks like the only changes being made for Hamilton's upcoming streaming release are related to the show's handful of F-Bombs. The movie isn't chock full of cursing, although Lin-Manuel Miranda's score uses profanities a handful of times throughout the show's run. And since Disney+ has already been shown to make some changes to adult content on the streaming service, fans were left wondering how the Tony and Pulitzer Award winning Broadway show might be altered.
Despite not getting its planned theatrical run, anticipation for Hamilton's arrival on Disney+ has been steadily anticipating once it was revealed that the movie was being released a year early. The upcoming movie presentation was filmed back in 2016, before the lead actors began departing the show with new movie and TV gigs. As such, the public will get to watch the actors who they've heard on the Grammy award winning soundtrack, even though years that have gone by since Hamilton arrived on Broadway with the stellar group of original stars.
Hamilton is currently set to arrive on Disney+ July 3rd, just in time for Independence Day. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
