The filmed stage version of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton was a huge acquisition for Disney — to the tune of a cool $75M — in February. Back then, the COVID-19 pandemic hadn’t yet hit the U.S. and Disney still planned to release the film in theaters late in 2021.
But then the coronavirus changed everything, and Disney switched gears to release Hamilton on its streaming service, Disney+, this Friday. That way, subscribers could tune in from the safety of their own homes — probably a wise move, since the general public isn’t exactly keen on the movie theater experience right now.
CivicScience asked more than 2,700 U.S. adults about the early release of Hamilton, and found that 30% of the general population is at least “somewhat likely” to watch it on Disney+. Filtered among Disney+ subscribers only, that figure rises to 57%:
Note that Disney+ intenders (those who plan to subscribe to the service, but haven’t yet) are also much more likely than the ‘uninterested / unaware’ group to say they’re likely to watch Hamilton — though even some of the latter group are expressing interest.
It turns out that 32% of Disney+ intenders say the introduction of Hamilton to the streaming service makes them more likely to subscribe. Compare that with just 8% of the ‘uninterested / unaware’ cohort.
There’s no question that Hamilton will be reaching a wider audience on Disney+: just 12% of U.S. adults say they’ve seen the musical at least once. Another 30% say they’d like to.
At a time when the entertainment industry is in uncharted territory, it seems that the arrival of Hamilton to Disney+ could give the streaming service a boost heading into the second half of 2020.
