Arthouse streamer and distributor Mubi has acquired all US rights, as well as exclusive global SVOD rights, for Hamlet of the Great TheftPinny Grylls and Sam Crane's award-winning Shakespeare mash-up documentary Hamlet and ultraviolent video game Major car theft.
The doc follows two actors out of work during the 2021 COVID lockdown attempting to declare Hamlet entirely within the GTA virtual game world. Hamlet of the Great Theft it premiered at SXSW this year, where it won the Jury Award for Documentary. He also won The Hollywood journalist critic Leslie Felperin, who called the experimental film “innovative, very funny and often touching”.
The film will have its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on 15 October, followed by a special presentation at the BFI IMAX on 20 October. Mubi plans to exit Hamlet of the Great Theft in early 2025, with further details to be announced soon. Hamlet of the Great Theft was financed by BFI Doc Society, Park Pictures, Altitude and Spark Features. Altitude Film Sales is handling worldwide sales of the documentary and negotiated the deal with Mubi.
The acquisition is the latest in a series of arthouse purchases for Mubi, which is expanding its core streaming business with a robust slate of theaters in multiple territories. The group recently tested the domestic waters with the bow of Coralie Fargeat's body horror drama The substancestarring Demi Moore, released on nearly 2,000 screens in the United States and has grossed nearly $10 million to date.
Mubi recently signed multi-territorial deals for two interesting titles at the Venice Film Festival, winning the rights to Luca Guadagnino's Daniel Craig. Queerin several international territories, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Spain and India; and the Alex Ross Perry music documentary Floorsa portrait of the influential 90s indie band, in all rights deals for the UK, Germany, France and Canada, among others.
Other recent acquisitions include that of Andrea Arnold Bird and that of Magnus von Horn The girl with the needleboth Cannes titles.