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

In recent years, Hollywood has begun to decipher video game movies. The incredible success of adaptations like “Sonic the Hedgehog” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has reinforced the fact that we have already passed a point in this regard. That being the case, almost every major video game will likely be targeted by studios in the coming years, and Grand Theft Auto will undoubtedly be on that list. Interestingly enough, a truly excellent film set in the GTA universe has recently arrived in theaters, with the full support of Rockstar Games, the creator of GTA, no less.

One could be forgiven for not knowing this since it’s a rather small film, but the documentary “Grand Theft Hamlet” recently arrived in theaters via the folks at Mubi. For those who don’t know, as the title suggests, it blends the worlds of GTA and William Shakespeare, with a scattered cast of actors enacting a production of “Hamlet” within the sprawling world of Grand Theft Auto Online. It’s as crazy and exhilarating as it sounds. I’ve been raving about it since I saw it at SXSW last year. The film was shot entirely in-game, without any live-action footage or any talking heads.

I’ve had good luck lately Speaking with the film’s directors Sam Crane and Benny Grylls in honor of its release. During the conversation, I inquired how they got permission from Rockstar for the release. After all, we’re talking about a multi-billion-dollar enterprise here, one that the company certainly 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 very early on. When Sam made some very short films and put them on YouTube, just him doing the opening scene of Hamlet with Mark…it kind of went almost viral, and we got word through people.” The ones we knew were that people who worked at Rockstar had seen it and were kind of tickled by it.

It would certainly be one thing if Crane and Grylls were trying to make a modification to the game in some way, shape, or form. After all, Hollywood came last and A big part of the reason why the “Grand Theft Auto” movie never happened. This is because Rockstar is very protective of IP. But as Crane explained in our conversation, the studio fully understood that the film was as much a love letter to the game as it was a production of a beloved play:

“They never wanted to have any kind of control over it or make it their own movie, but I think they liked what we were doing with it, basically. It’s very clear that I think it’s kind of a love letter to the game in some ways.” “As much as it is a love letter to Shakespeare.”

Interestingly enough, this movie continues the trend of some of the best video game movies on Video games, rather than direct adaptations of them. 2024 also saw the release of the Netflix film Criminally Uncensored “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin”, which focuses heavily on “World of Warcraft”, But it’s not a story about the game itself. Other hit movies like “Free Guy” and “Wreck-It Ralph” are also movies that encourage the love of gaming. Fortunately, Rockstar understood what the filmmakers were trying to do and didn’t get in the way of it due to some of the company’s misdirection.

You can hear my full interview with the directors in today’s episode of the Film Daily podcast:

“Grand Theft Hamlet” is now in theaters.