Grand Theft Hamlet is a 2024 British documentary film directed by Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls. 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.
Premise 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.
Release The film premiered at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Award for best documentary feature. 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.
Reception Critical response Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
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." Critic Simon Abrams, Kenny's colleague in RogerEbert.com, named Grand Theft Hamlet as the best film of 2025.
Accolades Award / film festival Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result British Independent Film Awards 8 December 2024 Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls Raindance Maverick Award Grand Theft Hamlet Critics' Choice Documentary Awards November 9, 2025 Best First Documentary Feature Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls London Film Critics Circle 2 February 2025 Documentary of the Year Grand Theft Hamlet Sitges Film Festival 12 October 2024 Best Sitges Documenta Film SXSW Film Festival 13 March 2024 Jury Award for best documentary feature Vancouver International Film Festival 17 October 2024 Audience Award, Spectrum
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