Why would Rockstar let someone else make a grand car heist movie – sort of

Hollywood has really started to crack the code on video game movies in recent years. The impressive success of adaptations such as Sonic the Hedgehog and The Super Mario Bros. Movie have reinforced the fact that we have indeed turned the corner in this regard. In that case, studios will probably be targeting almost every major video game in the coming years, and Grand Theft Auto will undoubtedly be on that list. Interestingly, a truly brilliant movie set in the world of GTA recently hit theaters with the full support of Rockstar Games, the creator of GTA.

You could be forgiven for not knowing about it since it's kind of a small movie, but the documentary Grand Theft Hamlet recently hit theaters via the folks at Mubi. For those who don't know about it, as the name suggests, it combines the worlds of GTA and William Shakespeare with a group of mischievous actors staging a production of Hamlet in the vast world of Grand Theft Auto Online. It's as crazy and delightful as it sounds. I've been raving about it since I saw it at SXSW last year. The movie is shot entirely within the game, with no live-action footage or talking heads.

I recently had that luck speaking 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're talking about a multi-billion dollar company here that the company definitely wants to protect. Fortunately, this wasn't a problem because Rockstar understood very well what the filmmakers were trying to do. As Grylls explained:

“Rockstar actually knew about the project early on. When Sam made some very short films that he put on YouTube, just from the opening scene of his Hamlet with Mark…it went semi-popular and we got messages from people about which we know people who worked at Rockstar saw it and it kind of tickled them.”

It would certainly be one thing if Crane and Grylls tried to adapt the game in some way, shape or form. After all, Hollywood called earlier and a big part of the reason the Grand Theft Auto movie never happened this is because Rockstar is quite protective of the IP. But as Crane explained in our chat, the studio understood very well that the film is a love letter to the game, just like a production of a beloved play:

“They never wanted to control it in any way or make it their own movie, but I think they liked what we did with it. It's pretty clear, I think it's kind of a love letter to the game. as much as it is a love letter to Shakespeare.”

Interestingly, this movie continues the trend of some of the best video game movies being of their own kind for video games rather than direct adaptations of them. 2024 also saw the release of Netflix's Criminally Sighted The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, which focuses heavily on World of Warcraft, but that in itself is not the narrative of the game. Other successful movies like “Free Guy” and “Wreck-It Ralph” are similarly about the love of games. Mercifully, Rockstar understood what these filmmakers were trying to do and didn't get in the way of it with some misguided corporate directive.

You can hear my full interview with the directors on today's podcast/Film Daily episode:

“Grand Theft Hamlet” is now in theaters.