Universal Pictures Content Group has acquired rights to “Hadestown: The Musical” from Bleecker Street for the United Kingdom and Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, and South Africa following the filmed stage production’s breakout theatrical performance in North America. Trafalgar Releasing has sublicensed theatrical rights and will release the film in cinemas across the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand beginning in October. The live capture, filmed in London’s West End with five members of the original Broadway cast, has grossed USD $20.3 million in North America through Sunday, according to Rentrak.

That haul has pushed “Hadestown” past “Hamilton” to become the highest-grossing live capture of a musical ever released theatrically in North America. The film features Reeve Carney, André De Shields, Amber Gray, Eva Noblezada and Patrick Page reprising their original Broadway roles in Anaïs Mitchell’s Tony-winning reinterpretation of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. The stage production won eight Tony Awards in 2019, including Best Musical, and remains in its seventh year on Broadway and third in London’s West End.

The international expansion is another reminder that filmed theatre can be considerably more than one-night alternative programming when audiences turn up. Universal Pictures Content Group already has some evidence of that in the UK and Ireland, where its 2025 release of “Six The Musical” grossed GBP £6.16 million (USD $8.32 million) to become the market’s highest-grossing theatre title. “Hadestown” has now demonstrated comparable appetite on the other side of the Atlantic, with its North American success effectively serving as the sales pitch for the next stage of its theatrical journey.