Why would Rockstar let someone else make a Grand Theft Auto movie – sort of

Hollywood has really started cracking the code on video game movies in recent years. The impressive success of adaptations like Sonic the Hedgehog and The Super Mario Bros. Movie cemented the fact that we had indeed turned a corner in this regard. That being the case, almost every major video game is likely to be targeted by studios in the coming years, and Grand Theft Auto will undoubtedly be on that list. Interestingly, however, a really great movie set in the world of GTA recently hit theaters with the full support of GTA creator Rockstar Games.

You can be forgiven if you’re not aware of this as it’s a small film, but the documentary Hamlet’s Grand Theft recently hit theaters via the folks at Mubi. For those who don’t know, as the name suggests, it combines the worlds of GTA and William Shakespeare with a group of ragtag actors performing Hamlet in the vast world of Grand Theft Auto Online. It’s as silly and wonderful as it sounds. I’ve been excited about this ever since I saw it at SXSW last year. The movie is shot entirely in-game, without any live-action scenes or any talking heads.

Recently I got lucky talking to the film’s directors Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls in honor of its release. During the conversation I asked how they got permission from Rockstar to release. After all, we are talking about a multi-billion dollar enterprise that the company surely wants to protect. Fortunately, this wasn’t a problem as Rockstar had a good understanding of what the filmmakers were trying to do. As Grylls explained:

“Rockstar really knew about the project from the beginning. When Sam made some very short films that he put up on YouTube, just of him doing the opening scene of Hamlet with Mark… it went semi-viral and we got the word out through people we knew who, who worked for Rockstar saw it and they were excited about it.”

It would certainly be one thing if Crane and Grylls tried to do an adaptation of the game in some way, shape or form. After all, Hollywood has called in the past and a big part of the reason the Grand Theft Auto movie never came out because Rockstar is quite protective of IP. But as Crane explained in our chat, the studio was well aware that the film is as much a love letter to the game as it is a production of the beloved game:

“They never wanted to have any control over it or make it their movie, but I think they liked what we did with it, basically. Quite clearly, I think it’s as much a love letter to the game as it is a love letter to Shakespeare.”

Interestingly, this movie continues the trend of some of the best video game movies out there about video games rather than their direct adaptations. 2024 also saw the release of the Netflix film Crimely Underseen “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin”, which is largely devoted to “World of Warcraft”, but is not a narrative of the game as such. Other successful movies like “Free Guy” and “Wreck-It Ralph” also seem to be out of love for games. Thankfully, Rockstar understood what these filmmakers were trying to do and didn’t stand in the way of it because of some misguided corporate directive.

You can hear my full interview with the filmmakers on today’s episode of the /Film Daily podcast:

Hamlet’s Grand Theft is now in theaters.