In one of the stranger developments in cinema, a film shot entirely within Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 5 has been touring the film festival circuit and is planned to be released theatrically. Grand Theft Hamlet is about two unemployed friends who want to stage a production of Hamlet within Grand Theft Auto 5 during the COVID-19 pandemic, but their real-world problems begin to intrude upon their virtual production.
The entirety of the movie is shot inside Grand Theft Auto 5, despite the real-world element of the narrative. It's reminiscent of the 'machinima' genre of video that was popular on YouTube in the early 2010s, with Rooster Teeth's Red vs. Blue being one of the most notable examples. That being said, this isn't a half-baked hobbyist project either as arthouse cinema distribution company Mubi is attached to the film, with the company posting about Grand Theft Hamlet on X.
"An innovative, immersive take on Shakespeare's Hamlet, shot entirely inside the world of Grand Theft Auto, Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane's Grand Theft Hamlet is coming soon to US theatres and streaming globally," the post reads.
Mubi is known for distributing several acclaimed independent films, like Aftersun,...